Officer Encounters ‘Kitty” in Back Yard

When Casper (Wyo.) resident Beverly Hood looked outside and saw a “big cat,” she started making phone calls to have someone come and “shoo” the cat away. She talked to a Casper police dispatcher, and officer Mike Ableman was then dispatched to take care of it. But when he started to the back yard, Hood warned him, “It’s a pretty big cat.” Indeed, it was. What Ableman thought was a domesticated house cat was really an 80-pound mountain lion. After seeing the cat, he and Hood retreated to the house and waited for a game warden, who shot the animal with a tranquilizer gun. The story made the rounds in the “weird news” sections of news Web sites, but also has a serious side for dispatchers–ask what type of “kitty” the caller is talking about.