Photos: Man Stunned After Finding Huge Mountain Lion in Unlikely Place

A mountain lion in this undated handout from the Colorado Parks and Wildlife. CPW

A California man got the fright of his life after discovering a large mountain lion hiding behind his washing machine.

Sean Ishol, who lives in Lucerne Valley, discovered the beast when he was placing clothes in the dryer, Fox News reported. He added that his dogs were whimpering and crouching.

When he cleaned the dryer’s lint trap, he walked over to the machine and after bending down, he saw a dark shadow and eyes looking back at him from behind the washer and dryer.

He immediately recognized it as a mountain lion before slowly backing away before asking his wife to do the same.

“This thing ... it’s just looking at us. I could have pet the dang thing [it was so close],” Ishol told Fox, adding that he thinks the big cat was bigger than he is.

“We both reacted. I went out to the door and my wife went to the opposite side of the garage, where it’s locked,” he said.

He said the lion moved its head and paws as it looked at his dogs.

“The mountain lion did put its paw out to let them know ‘Hey I’m here, I’m bigger than you, I will hurt you,’” Ishol told ABC7.

He realized his wife, Bobbi, was trapped on the other side of the garage, and Ishol grabbed a PVC pipe and placed it between the lion and his wife, Fox reported.

After she made it to the door, he and his wife closed it and ran into the house.

“[I’ve] never encountered a mountain lion before, and I hope we never have another one,” Ishol was quoted as saying. “It was crazy. We could have died!”

He said his first instinct was to pray about it, saying they “immediately went to a prayer.”

Ishol said he had never run into a mountain lion in Lucerne Valley, which is located in Southern California south of Barstow and north of San Gorgonio Mountain. But he knew it was possible since he owns animals including chickens, goats, and dogs.

“Worst case scenario, I would have leaped in front of my wife and taken the hit,” he added of the situation.

Later, the called Animal Control and waited for a professional to take care of the cat, which Ishol said may have weighed 100 pounds.

“This happened at 8:25 p.m. [Monday] and they didn’t get here until 12:44 a.m. [Tuesday],” Ishol told Fox. “I just really needed my clothes for work!”

State Fish and Wildlife officials told ABC7 that the animal was in poor health and was later euthanized. A necropsy is scheduled to see why the animal was in poor shape.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) said that mountain lions are a “specially protected species,” which means people can’t hunt them.

“Mountain lion studies over the last 30 years have estimated population densities for different habitat types around the state. These density estimates varied from zero to 10 lions per 100 square miles, and were simply expanded to the total amount of each habitat type available,” the agency says on its website.

Colorado Man Fights Mountain Lion

Travis Kauffman, 31, described how he killed a mountain lion after it attacked him, going for his face.

Travis Kauffman points to his injuries, sustained in a mountain lion attack on Feb. 4, 2019. CWP

“One of my worst fears was confirmed … I just had my heart sink into my stomach a little bit,” he said.

“It was going up toward my face so I threw up my hands to kind of block my face, at which point it grabbed onto my hand and wrist and from there it started to claw at my face and neck. And that’s when kind of my fear response turned into more of a fight response,” Kauffman added. “From there it was just like a wrestling match,” Kauffman said.