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ASHLAND, Ore. — What would you do if you found a mountain lion lounging in your living room? An Oregon woman named Lauren Taylor recently faced this very predicament, and the resulting video shows her unusual strategy to get the animal safely outside.
According to Taylor’s post on Facebook, the cat had been drinking from a pond near the back door of her house and then wandered inside.
“The door was open and the room has huge plants and stairs built around real tree branches, so she likely didn't even realize she was walking indoors until she was inside,” wrote Taylor.
Once inside, the cougar strolled around until Taylor’s housemate saw it and let out a startled scream. The animal panicked and tried to exit through a closed window, before seeking safety behind the sofa.
Taylor arrived home later and found the cat dozing peacefully next to the sofa. After it had been there more than six hours, Taylor decided it was high time for the unexpected guest to leave. Having already established what she described as a "telepathic connection" based on “feline-speak eye blinking,” Taylor continued her unorthodox approach to get the animal out of her house.
“It was just a couple hours to dawn and we needed to prompt her to leave without alarming her so much that she panicked,” explained Taylor in her Facebook post. “I sent telepathic pictures of the routes out of the house via open doors and the route out the backyard, across the creek, through an open field, and back up into the hills. We got guidance that the way to rouse her and get her to leave her safe spot behind the sofa without panicking was through drumming.”
With the soft percussion of the drum emanating through the house, the cougar calmly rose from its resting place, gave itself a once-over in a nearby mirror and then trotted out the back door.
As Taylor concluded in her Facebook post, "it was a perfect ending to a blessed encounter."
While Taylor’s unique approach may have worked in this situation, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources has its own set of recommendations for if you encounter a mountain lion. These include making eye contact with the animal, waving your arms and speaking in a loud voice.
If you ever encounter a cougar in a residential area, wildlife officials say you should alert them as soon as possible. You can find the phone numbers and office hours for your nearest local office by clicking here.
