At first glance, Patrick Osgood thought a large dog was loose in his backyard when he saw a furry creature strolling across the grass.
But upon further inspection, the California resident quickly realized it wasn't a canine at all — it was a big cat, a mountain lion to be exact.
"It poked it's head up. I said, 'My God, that's not a dog. That's a mountain lion,'" Osgood recalled to FOX40. "And it was in no rush whatsoever ... just sauntering along."
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Osgood immediately grabbed his phone and started capturing photos and video of the large mountain lion from inside his home. The Jackson resident said a lot of wild animals pass by his house, but none of those wildlife encounters compared to this.
"Yeah, it was just amazing to me that he was right there where we hang out on a daily basis," he told the news station.
"Yeah, it was just amazing to me that he was right there where we hang out on a daily basis."
Unfortunately, Osgood said it appears the hungry mountain lion attacked his neighbors' outdoor cat while they were on vacation.
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"When they got back last night they found a pool of blood and the cat was gone," he said, adding that he's now a "little skittish" given the "close call" with the large creature.
The Amador County Sheriff's Department is aware of the reported big cat sighting and urged locals to keep an eye out.
Mountain lions are classified as a "specially protected species" in California. However, there are strong populations of the big cats in The Golden State, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW). More than half of the state is "mountain lion habitat," the California DFW says.
"Mountain lion studies over the last 30 years have estimated population densities for different habitat types around the state. These density estimates varied from zero to 10 lions per 100 square miles, and were simply expanded to the total amount of each habitat type available," the agency explains on its website.
While Osgood said it was "awesome" to see the wild animal up close, he hopes it doesn't come around a second time.
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