Ark Valley News - Second mountain lion sighting

Chris Ballard points to where he saw a mountain lion around 10 a.m. Wednesday (Oct. 26).

Second mountain lion sighting
By Chris Strunk
Last Updated: November 03, 2016

For the second time in three days, a mountain lion has been spotted in the city limits of Valley Center.

The latest sighting was Wednesday (Oct. 26) behind New Hope Services on North Sheridan. A New Hope employee said he saw a mountain lion about 10 a.m. while he was walking from the main building on the campus to a storage and work facility on the west side.

The lion, Chris Ballard said, stood still for a few moments and then started walking northwest toward the Wetland Park, a wooded nature trail.

Police Chief Mark Hephner said nearby West Elementary was notified of the sighting, and the school canceled recess.

Police and the city's animal control officer searched the area but couldn't find the lion.

The sighting was just three days after residents in the 1100 block of South Meridian saw a mountain lion behind their home.

Kansas Wildlife, Parks & Tourism officials were planning to come to Valley Center Wednesday to confirm that sighting.

Craig Curtis, regional wildlife supervisor, told The News that without a photograph, it's difficult to determine whether what the resident and a Valley Center police officer saw that night was, in fact, a mountain lion.

"The main documentation or confirmation we've used has been trail cameras or photographs," Curtis said. "We could look for tracks, but if it's dry, it's hard for tracks to show up."

Valley Center police Officer Shannon Meyer was sure it was a mountain that she saw walking away from the yard at 1151 S. Meridian.

The homeowner called police after the animal set off a motion-detector light in the backyard. The residents' pet dog, which was inside the chain-link-fenced backyard, also was barking.

Meyer responded to the home about 7 p.m. It was getting dark, she said.

The owners took Meyer to the backyard and pointed toward the lion.

Meyer said she saw the animal near a tree line behind the house. It was about 45 to 50 yards away by that time. It was walking west toward the river.

"It just kept walking," Meyer said. "It was walking along the tree line behind all the house on Ness, just following the tree line in and out, from the trees to the field."

Finally, the lion walked too far for her to see it, Meyer said.

"It was a full adult," she said. "It was big."

She estimated the animal to be between 75 and 100 pounds.

Meyer said it was too dark and the lion was too far away to take a photograph of it.

Meyer said she has seen mountain lions before on her great-grandparents' farm in Harper County, so she is familiar with them. However, she has never seen one inside the city limits of Valley Center.

Police Chief Mark Hephner said the department received reports last year of one around Interurban south of Valley Center, but officers were never able to spot it.

Meyer suggested residents call 911 if they spot one.

"Stay in your house and don't go and try to scare it off," she said. "Let us know, so we can come in an determine whether there needs to be a course of action."

Even if it were a mountain lion, Curtis said it's no cause for serious alarm.

The KDWPT has had no confirmed reports of attacks, despite their growing presence in Kansas.

"I'm more concerned about earthquakes and lightning than I am about mountain lions in Kansas," Curtis said.