It looked so well groomed, Beverly Hood thought it was a house cat lying on her porch, its head resting against the backdoor of her house in central Casper.

But then it stood up and hissed at her.

"I wasn't scared. I just thought, 'Whoops, I'm not going out there.'"

As she watched, the 80- to 90-pound, male mountain lion sauntered down her walkway and to the back of her yard, only to lie down again.

Hood loves big cats.

She raised a lynx as a pet once, she said, but this cat didn't have a collar, so she called 911, Metro Animal Control and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.

Casper Police Officer Mike Ableman arrived at her house near 12th and Wolcott streets on Monday expecting to shoo away a "kitty cat," because when Hood called dispatchers she told them there was a "big cat" in her backyard.

The officer had asked the dispatcher if it was a mountain lion, but was reassured it was a just a house cat.

When he started for the backyard, Hood told him to stop. "It's a pretty big cat," she warned him.

Ableman went anyway, but didn't stay long: "It stood up and looked at me, and I ran back in the house," said Ableman, who had expected a domesticated cat.

He then waited for Game and Fish officers to arrive with a tranquilizer gun.

Game Warden John Lund ultimately shot the mountain lion twice with a tranquilizer dart, once in Hood's backyard and again after it jumped the fence.

He said it's standard to shoot a lion twice if there's a possibility that it didn't go down the first time. He didn't want a "drugged" mountain lion wandering around residential neighborhoods.

It's not unheard of to find mountain lions in towns, Lund said, even as far into a town as Wolcott and 12th streets.

Mountain lions, he said, especially young males, are sometimes forced out of their natural area by older cats and walk into cities.

Once they get into a town, he said, they will often wander around until they wind their way out again.

Lund said they aren't typically dangerous and are scared of people.

Game and Fish officers were planning to relocate the lion later Monday afternoon, according to Scott Edberg, the Casper region wildlife supervisor for Game and Fish.

"Based on the animal's age and its behavior," he said, "we feel we are going to relocate this lion in suitable lion habitat away from people or livestock."

Casper is mountain lion country, Edberg said, and the animal's mother probably weaned it off to find its own place to live.

This is the second time in two months a mountain lion has wandered into Casper. Last time, in early August, the lion was on the east side of Casper and never caught.

This one, Hood said, seemed so nice she thought it was someone's pet.

"You know," she said, "he only hissed at me once."

Contact city reporter Christine Robinson at (307) 266-0639 or christine.robinson@trib.com.

See a cat?

To report a mountain lion sighting, contact Wyoming Game and Fish in Casper at 473-3400. After business hours, contact your local law enforcement agency.

To report a mountain lion sighting, contact Wyoming Game and Fish in Casper at 473-3400. After business hours, contact your local law enforcement agency.]]->