Mountain Lion Warning Has Bixby Residents On Edge

Bixby neighbors are on high-alert after a possible mountain lion sighting.

Neighbors who live near 131st and Memorial received a letter saying a mountain lion and coyotes have been spotted in the woods not far from their homes.

As 4-year-old Elijah plays on his street, his mom, Savannah Bue, is just feet away.

"I don't let him come out at all by himself,” she said.

Bue lives in the Riverbend Mobile Home Community near 131st and Memorial. She said her family hears coyotes howling, sometimes very close to the house.

Neighbors have also been warned of a mountain lion sighting in the nearby woods.

"The mountain lions, that scares me more than the coyotes," Bue said.

While it's alarming, Colin Berg with the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife said mountain lions are rarely seen in the state, and said it’s more likely a bobcat, fox or coyote.

Berg said, "99.99 percent of the time it's another big dog or something else they see. They want to see a mountain lion, but it's very rare."

So rare there have only been nine confirmed mountain lion sightings in Oklahoma in the last decade; the most recent was in 2011 when a mountain lion was found in a tree in north Tulsa.

"Practice your everyday habits that you do as far as the outside, enjoy the outdoors," Berg said.

If it's a continued problem, he recommends contacting a nuisance wildlife controller operator to trap and relocate the wildlife.

While Berg isn't ruling out the possibility of a mountain lion, he said he'd have to see a picture of it to know for sure that's what was spotted in the woods.