It's been a year since I moved to Des Moines and i'm identifying things I really like about this part of the country. Among my favorite things is the great Des Moines Mountain Lion Sighting of 2019. The city was on edge when a very large cat, presumably a mountain lion, was spotted on a neighborhood camera in the wee hours of the morning. Soon, mountain lion sightings became the talk of the town. "I saw him on MLK Parkway," "I saw him by the airport," etc. . . Eventually, it seemed that he fled South toward woodier pastures.
However, the fun is that every two weeks or so someone else posts on social media or calls the news media with stories of mountain lion sightings. No one has a clue if any of these sightings are true mountain lion sightings. In fact, many are thought to be large dogs. I saw one picture someone posted of a large animal about three miles away that looked like an actual lion. I'm quite sure it was just a dog.
Are you a member of the Nextdoor app? It's where you can request neighborhood suggestions, talk about shootings you've heard or any other neighborhood issue. Every so often, the subject of the MOUNTAIN LION comes up. Today is no different. Matt from Indianola Hills writes, "My wife and son swear they saw the mountain lion in our yard early today. We are on Broad Street. Keep your eyes peeled. I like that when it was first spotted over in WDSM, the news said, 'we're pretty sure it had left town.' LOL." LOL, Matt, LOL.