08 January 2010

No Lion....I mean...No lying

OK I'm just going to say it. If you've watched the news you probably saw the report about the cougar/Mountain Lion sighting in Champlin early December.( http://wcco.com/pets/cougar.roaming.champlin.2.1353704.html) . Well if you've read my blog you might remember me running from my home in Coon Rapids to my workplace in Brooklyn Park occasionally in August/September, in preparation for my first Ultra. Well, I actually saw (and heard) a cougar at about 5:30 in the morning in Champlin on Rush Creek Trail on one of those runs. It scared the living crap out of me. I got to work told several friends/coworkers about the encounter. I felt incredibly stupid even suggesting it to the officials as I had no proof. The only thing I can prove is that I was in that vicinity. I eventually called (left messages with) the Wildlife Management person but never heard from him before or after the encounter that was captured on film by the Champlin Police Department two months later. Apparently unless you get it on film it doesn't mean much. In their defense, I bet everyone and their brother has claimed to see one of these animals since it was caught on film. It just seems odd that they wouldn't even entertain the thought of returning my calls (in the interest of public safety) to at least find out the exact time and place that I shit my pants.

So there. No lyin' ...I saw a lion.

3 comments:

  1. I had a similar experience once. When I was in Indiana, I was running along a country road when I saw what looked like the ugliest dog in the world crossing the road ahead of me. As I got closer, I thought it might be a raccoon. The closer I got, the stranger it looked; I knew I'd never seen anything like it. It didn't seem to care that I was getting close, so I got as close as I could to take in all the details and commit them to memory, so i could look it up later. Then it came to me what it was.

    Wolverine.

    No wonder it didn't care I was getting close!

    I didn't report it. I didn't think that people were supposed to report such things and I didn't think anyone would believe me. Then, two months later, the local news reported that a park ranger had spotted the first wolverine in the state in 20 years. After that, who'd believe me if I said I saw it first?

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