Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Young mountain lioness visits Lewie's Catfish

A 40-to 50-pound young lady Mountain Lioness was caught on video July 31 by Todd and Deann King, managers of Lewie's Catfish on Highway 67 South.

The big female cat, estimated to be less than a year old and brown and yellow in color, came around the side of the store and headed in the direction of the park.

King said Internet research indicates the cat is not of the variety to be particularly dangerous to people, but the research said if you come upon the feline, stare it down and raise your hands to appear taller if you are short, young or both.

"It said if you do come under attack by this small Texas area Mountain Lion, the best thing to do is fight back because it would probably back off if you hit it a couple of times," King said.

The time they videoed the cat, it was 12:15 a.m.

Deann said she and her husband walked up on the lioness during another instance, after the video, "and we got within 30 yards of it."

"I think that was about four days after we made the video," she said. "We do have four kittens missing."

King said he and his wife looked on the internet and found out the type of Mountain Lions in Arkansas, especially this small, are not known for violence to humans.

"Now there are a couple of neighborhood tom cats who are not in their usual hang outs," King said. "I think this cat is pretty young and has just lost her spots. At 40 to 50 pounds, people will probably not see any big game down on her account."

King said he believes the Mountain Lioness walked up near a creek to his store and probably smelled the fish remains in the garbage, thus deciding to hang around a little while.

King stressed that an Internet site he read facts from indicated the breed of Mountain Lion from the Rocky Mountains ranges from 150 to 200 pounds and can easily throw down a deer.

This small cat is not nearly that threatening, he said.

"I read they saw a large cat in Little Rock area back in 1993 or 1994," he said. "Arkansas is known for Mountain Lions but ours appears to have been the West Texas type, a considerably smaller breed," King said.

"The Internet said this small type of cat will live in culverts around subdivisions."

Mrs. King said she knew it was another variety of cat besides what is common "when we saw the round ears and a tail as long as the body."

For more information regarding Mountain Lions, the Kings said you can get on the Internet at: www.angelfire.com.

The City of Gurdon considered having Matt Dickerson, city animal control officer, hunt down the Mountain Lioness, but Dickerson told Tambra Childres, recorder and treasurer, officials from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission would not allow him to trap the big cat.