PRESIDIO COUNTY, Texas — The City of Presidio saw somewhat of an unwanted four-legged visitor Tuesday.
Presidio Police Department and Animal Control responded to a call about a puma, also called a mountain lion, panther or cougar, according to experts, wandering around the city.
"You can see those tracks," Midland Zoo Director Jason Green said. "Those clearly look like a mountain lion based on those three loops on that back pad."
In the 400 block of Park Boulevard, the puma was found hiding in a stretch hallway between an apartment and a wall fence.
The big cat then ran away, through city limits, crossing into US Hwy 67 going onto Puerto Rico St., running into the wild, according to Presidio PD.
Despite how scary that might sound, Green said this isn’t anything out of the ordinary for that area.
"They're found commonly somewhat in that Trans-Pecos area along the border and somewhat north," Green said. "So they live in real rocky, you know, very arid regions down there. And so they're relatively common throughout that area. So having a sighting in there, you know you don't want to see it in the city at times but is relatively common based on their range of where they're found."
And based on recent developments, people might be face-to-face with cats like these more often.
"As the urban sprawl of development tends to move out farther and farther and encroaches on existing habitats, that human-animal interaction is going to be kind of become more and more common," Green said. "And this may be an animal that's sort of finding a new home and kind of got a little bit out of its way. It's not that far from its only about, I think, 10 miles from Big Bend Ranch State Park, which is sort of a native range for them. So it's not, it's not out of the ordinary, you know, for that to happen, it just doesn't happen all that often."
Even though they’re more common than you think, that doesn’t mean you can just walk up to one of these big felines.
"They are big cats," Green said. "They can get to 120-130 pounds with the males. And so they are predators. And so you do have to be cautious. You know, when they're in that area. So be responsible with your pets and small children especially out early in the morning and late at night. You just need to be aware of your surroundings at all times. If you see one, just try to stay calm. Don't turn away from them. Don't run away from them. You know, pick up your kids or your pets and just kind of slowly back and, you know, usually more often than not if you give them an exit, they'll take it."
Presidio PD hasn’t released any updates on the status of the puma as of Wednesday night. If you see this puma anywhere, make sure to call 911.
NewsWest 9 will continue to update this article as we learn more.