Two mountain lion sightings confirmed within the same week in the Dallas-Fort Worth area

Brent Blackwell has seen a lot of coyotes, rabbits and skunks near his Lewisville Lake neighborhood. When he saw a large cat with a long tail in his security camera footage, he knew something was wrong. “That gave me goosebumps,” Blackwell said.

Earlier this week, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department confirmed Blackwell’s November footage of the mountain lion, the first documented sighting in Denton County.

On Friday, the department said it had confirmed another video of a mountain lion on the west side of Lewisville Lake in late October. The two sightings, which occurred less than a week apart, are the first for the county, according to the state wildlife department.

Because of the rarity of mountain lions in the Dallas-Fort Worth region, Texas wildlife officials said they believe both sightings were the same animal. The department has asked residents to contact the department to report any additional sightings.

“It is likely that this mountain lion is just passing through and will not remain in the area for an extended period of time,” the department said in a news release Friday.

On Thursday, a city wildlife biologist with the department said state officials were monitoring the situation.

“The animal was only observed walking through the area and no interactions with humans or pets were reported,” the department said.

Blackwell, who provided measurements to biologists with the State Parks and Wildlife Department, said the mountain lion was nearly 3 feet tall.

He wondered what brought the mountain lion to his backyard and noticed a rabbit hiding behind swimming pool equipment while reviewing footage with the state wildlife department.

“Funnily enough, about 10 minutes later, at about 4:45 a.m., another request was made,” he said. “I didn’t see anything in the picture, but I zoomed back in to where the rabbit was and it was still sitting there.”

Blackwell said his neighbors have reacted differently to the mountain lion – some people think it’s cool, others are afraid for their animals and small children. He plans to be more careful about letting his dogs out when it’s dark outside.

“I don’t think there’s a mountain lion predator in this area,” Blackwell said.

Brady Smith, who submitted the October footage to Texas wildlife authorities, shared the video with The News. Smith said he opened Lake Dallas RV Park on the west side of Lewisville Lake about three years ago.

About two years ago, he said one of his employees and a guest reported seeing a mountain lion. However, they had no video evidence. “One of my guys, we were moving an RV and he said, ‘There are huge eyes down there.’ I’m not going to go under there,'” Smith recalls.

A short time later, a resident reported seeing a mountain lion, Smith said.

As of the Wednesday before Halloween, there were no further reports of mountain lions on the property, Smith said. One of his park guests told Smith that they had a video of a mountain lion. Smith said he warned guests at the park about the sighting.

After seeing a WFAA news report about a mountain lion sighting in Frisco, he reported it to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. He started looking through footage from his own security cameras around the property and found more videos of the cat.

“I hope it doesn’t live behind my park,” Smith said. “There are deer and other food sources there.”