Unluckily for her, it didn’t work.
There have been many reported sightings of wild animals in urban areas. It’s been one of the most common side effects of the pandemic and was already happening in some parts of the world before this. Such is the case in Chile, where condors and pumas, which usually live in the mountains, have been seen more and more frequently in the city, due to growing urbanization and the destruction of their habitat.
Their visits are becoming ever more common.
Images like these have sadly become less surprising, which highlights the potential danger that wild animals could face in urban areas as well as the destruction of their ecosystems. On several occasions, pumas have been seen walking in neighborhood streets or even entering houses. Their own home isn’t the same anymore, it’s under attack, and this reality has forced them to look for food and shelter in other places.
However, the city is sadly an even worse destination for them.
The danger they face in the city is great, not forgetting that they also pose a threat to any people that approach them, especially children and those with reduced mobility who couldn’t react quickly if they came into contact with these big cats. Luckily this situation didn’t occur when a puma was sighted at dawn on Monday, close to a condo in the neighborhood of Puente Alto, in Santiago, Chile, according to news outlet Teletrece.
A grave situation was avoided not only because after walking the streets, the carnivore calmly headed back to the mountains on its own, but because of the behavior of one local woman towards this unusual guest.
Despite the fear that many people have, there are those who have taken to heart the Chilean police’s advice to stay calm. Besides taking photos and filming it on her phone, the woman also cooed to the puma as if it were a domestic cat, saying “here kitty, kitty” over and over.
As can be expected, her attempt to stroke it, feed it or whatever she hoped to do, failed and the cat returned home by itself, without the need for it to be captured.