I don't know who startled each other more - the mountain lion or the homeowner. The big cat broke into a California resident's home and came face-to-face with the owner.
The whole episode ended with the animal falling into the backyard pool. Speaking with CBS News and ABC affiliate KABC, James Tenney opened up about his experience with the mountain lion. He said that he had been at his mom's home when the big cat walked right through the open front door. Tenney had been in the kitchen when it entered and didn't see the cat until it was already in the house.
"Then out of the corner of my eye, I hear and see and feel the large presence," he said. "Peaked around the corner of the dining room, and we locked eyes for a moment, and I knew it was a lion."
The mountain lion saw Tenney, freaked out and darted straight through the screen back door, landed in the pool, and flew out the other end to exit the property.
Mountain Lion Freak Out
"As soon as it saw me, it went straight through the screen here, out the back. It was a loud, loud noise, boom! And into the pool and over the fence," Tenney told WABC. "I wasn't scared. I was generally just, ultimately thinking about my dog, who was in the front yard."
The family left the front door open for their 13-year-old dog Bandit to come and go as he pleased. Fortunately, Bandit never encountered the mountain lion and was asleep the entire time.
"By the time I came out here, he was up and kind of walking around, like he caught a scent or something, but never saw the mountain lion," Tenney said.
It sounds like the family learned their lesson about leaving the door opened. They ended up contacting the police because they didn't want anyone to be injured. But police couldn't assist in the matter.
"There were lots of kids running around that day, lots of parties going on, so we wanted to make sure we had that footage and alert the community," Tenney said.
