Mountain lion, housecat electrocuted in apparent chase atop power pole

By SCOTT McMILLION, Chronicle Staff Writer

Arnie Duncan made a grim discovery beside his driveway just south of Bozeman Friday: a dead mountain lion, with a dead housecat nearby.

"It's a big one," Duncan said Friday of the lion. "It wasn't there yesterday and it's lying on top of the snow, so it had to have happened last night."

Duncan said he believes the lion chased the housecat up a power pole. The lion was big enough to make contact with two wires, making it possible that both animals were electrocuted.

"There's a tuft of black hair on the top wire, and a big tuft of yellow hair on the bottom wire," Duncan said. "When he reached up to sink his claws in that housecat, he tripped his breaker."

The black-and-white housecat fell on the edge of Duncan's driveway.

The tawny lion dropped to the ground near the base of the power pole.

Duncan's home is about three miles south of the Museum of the Rockies and Montana State University , near the Triple Tree subdivision. He and his wife, Bridget Cavanaugh, have two children, ages 2 and 4.

Mountain lions are occasionally seen in Bozeman, although black bears are more common. However, mountain lions are more likely to attack people than are bears.

Mike Ross, a wolf specialist for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, was sent out to the Duncans' home and retrieved the carcass.

He said Duncan's theory makes sense to him.

"I would guess (the lion) was hunting in the brush, jumped the cat and chased it up the pole," Ross said.

The housecat had singe marks on its body, he added.

Lions usually feed mostly on deer, which are increasingly common in some Bozeman-area neighborhoods.

The female lion weighed about 60 pounds. Ross said an FWP veterinarian will examine the carcass at a later time.

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