A South Dakota woman had an unpleasant surprise while soaking in a hot tub one morning — a four-legged visitor.
Marlene Todd at first thought it was just her house cat roaming the back deck. Then she realized that the animal in the brush at the side of her hot tub was much larger. She opened her eyes and saw a big, tan, hairy form just inches away.
It was a mountain lion.
The cougar leaped onto the side of the hot tub. For a moment, woman and wild cat locked eyes, then the mountain lion leaped over the hot tub and ran away. On the way over, it kicked Todd’s robe into the water.
Todd told reporters that she had been kind of hidden in the tub, with her back against one wall. The mountain lion might not have realized she was there until it was on the edge of the tub. With the way the hot tub and deck are situated, the stairs were blocking the cougar’s retreat. The only way it could go was up and over the tub — so it did.
Todd also said that she now knows what it feels like to be a goldfish in a bowl under the watchful eye of a domesticated feline. That breathless moment of eye contact was enough to last a lifetime.
Local authorities said the wild cat was probably stalking deer or other prey in the neighborhood. The warmth of the hot tub on a frosty South Dakota morning probably drew the cougar in.
It all probably happened very quickly — the noise, the look, the leap. I can’t imagine what I would do if faced with the same situation. I would probably freeze, just like Marlene Todd did, giving the cougar the chance to get away. Then again, I might just scream like a little girl like I do when I see a spider in my bathroom.