A city of San Marcos employee claimed to see a Mountain Lion near Dante Trail in the Middle Purgatory nature preserve on the morning of April 17.
“The animal was spotted coming down from a tree before it ran quickly,” a facebook post from the city of San Marcos stated. “Neighbors in the Willow Creek area have also reported finding dead deer in recent weeks, which could be related.”
The city notified Texas Parks and Wildlife of the sighting.
An official with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department stated that its biologists are still gathering information and are currently unable to confirm a possible mountain lion sighting in San Marcos.
“Biologists with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department are still gathering information and cur- rently unable to confirm a possible mountain lion sighting in San Marcos,” an official with TPWD stated. “Confirmable evidence is important in these cases because other species are often mistaken for mountain lions. If anyone has additional photos or videos of the animal, tracks or other evidence, we ask them to please submit it to the local biologist for verification.”
TPWD pointed to the Trans-Pecos region as well as parts of south Texas as the most common locations to find mountain lions in the state, but “individual lions can move long distances and can show up in areas they are not typically known to occur.”
According to a document published by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, sightings of mountain lions have occurred in all 254 Texas counties but not all sightings are confirmed; They cite mortality rates as a more accurate indicator of where mountain lions have lived, which have been recorded in 67 counties between 1983 and 2005. The TPWD website states that there has been no confirmed sightings in Hays County ever.
Texas Parks and Wildlife gives recommendations for what to do if one spots a mountain lion:
• Do not approach a lion
• Stay calm
• Stop and back away slowly. Do not run or turn around.
• Try to appear larger by raising your arms.
• Pick up children as to prevent them from running • If the lion is aggressive, throw rocks, sticks or anything available and speak firmly and loudly.
• If attacked, fight back and remain standing. Find confirmed mountain lion sightings at this link: storymaps.arcgis. com/collections/685a0ee 58ca140c9a8e1a1939f72 5f94
