Wild video shows the moment a hulking mountain lion strolled through the front door of a California home like it owned the place, before coming face-to-face with the terrified man inside.
Jeff Tenney was in the kitchen of his mother’s house in La Verne, Los Angeles County, on Saturday afternoon when he found himself locking eyes with the brazen big cat.
“Out of the corner of my eye, I hear and see and feel the large presence,” he told KABC. “[I] peeked around the corner of the dining room, and we locked eyes for a moment, and I knew it was a lion.”
The mountain lion walked in through the open front door of the suburban home and ran out the back door after spotting the human inside.
A mountain lion casually strolled into a family’s home in California. ABC7
“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 said.
“I wasn’t scared. I was generally just, ultimately thinking about my dog, who was in the front yard,” he added.
Tenney’s 13-year-old dog Bandit slept soundly through the entire encounter, after he had left the front door open for the pet to come and go as he pleased, he said.
Jeff Tenney came face-to-face with the wild animal. ABC7
“He was napping right here in the front lawn, so he was snoozing. 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 came from the driveway, and they didn’t meet each other, but sure passed pretty close, but [he] slept through the entire thing.”
The only victim in the brief encounter was a pool float that the mountain lion popped as it made its dramatic escape through the backyard.
La Verne is not known for mountain lion encounters, and children’s parties were taking place at the time, but Tenney has warned locals to be vigilant.
“We have the Ring camera footage to notify the community. There were lots of kids running around that day, lots of parties going on, so we wanted to make sure we have that footage and alert the community,” Tenney said.