By Lee Ross
Mountain View Telegraph
While some get an adrenaline pop jumping from airplanes or rock climbing, Bill Brown gets into a cage with a cougar.
Brown visits the 175 pound cat, Moonshadow, once a day at the holding pen at Wildlife West Nature Park.
“If I go on vacation or something he misses me,” Brown said.
The big cat puts purrs and stands over Brown, licking the top of his head, then exposed his neck for Brown to scratch.
Brown said he wasn't entirely sure whether recent stories about cougar attacks in New Mexico were actually true, but said it is good to be cautious.
“We're out here where they live and you just got to be careful and be aware that stuff like that happens,” he said.
Last month 55-year-old Robert Nawojski's body was found mauled by an animal authorities believe to be a cougar near his Pinos Altos mobile home. The month before Jose Salazar Sr., an Albuquerque man, chased an animal away from his son during an attack in the Sandia Mountains. The animal in that case is also believed to be a cougar.
“They had to sew back a chunk of his scalp,” Salazar said. “He has a few scars on his face and bite marks on his throat.”
Salazar, who grew up in northern New Mexico, said he has been walking in the woods all his life and plans to bring his son back into the mountains to conquer both of their fears.
“I'm still in shock … It still gives me shivers,” Salazar said. “The problem is when you see them, they've been watching you for a while … that poor guy (Nawojski) probably didn't see it coming.”
Brown, a retired firefighter, said the two cats at Wildlife West never learned how to hunt. Both animals weigh 175 pounds or more, which is unusually large. Adult mountain lions, both in captivity and in the wild, generally top out at about 150 pounds.
A volunteer at the park, Brown does the feeding for the lions on Mondays. Moonshadow and his brother, Phantom, who lives in an adjacent habitat, are fed about 3 pounds of horse meat every day.
“That's about the biggest cougar you'll ever see,” Brown said, pointing at Phantom as the large cat sat in the shade purring. “He's just a cool guy.”
Brown doesn't have the same relationship with Phantom as he does with Moonshadow and has never dared to enter Phantom's cage. Brown began walking Moonshadow on a leash when the lion was a kitten. He said the cat would often attack him, drawing blood at least once a week. He also used to transport Moonshadow in a dog crate to do demonstrations for community outreach.
“He used to get really (upset),” Brown said. “When he got to be 120 pounds it was too much to handle.”
Now Brown visits Moonshadow once a day in the cat's habitat, where Moonshadow has attacked Brown twice.
“They've got strength that's incredible,” Brown said.
One of the attacks came after Brown talked to a visitor through the glass and the other time Brown tried to visit the cat twice in the same day.
“Visiting hours were over,” Brown said. “He was in stalk mode and his ears were flat.”
Both times Moonshadow lunged at Brown several times as Brown backed towards the exit, holding his arm up to defend himself and shoving the cat back each time. Brown escaped relatively unharmed both times.
“I know enough to keep out of his mouth,” Brown said. “I know what he's going to do.”
Brown said in a cougar attack it is important to keep eye contact, never run, and that a person should fight back. In spite of Moonshadow's sometimes unruly temperament, Brown said his relationship with the cat is rewarding for both of them.
“I think I'm about the luckiest man alive,” he said.
E-mail Story
Print Friendly
...go to bookmarks
