Woman Wielding a Toy Baseball Bat Chases Mountain Lion Out of Yard

VAIL, Colo. — A woman says she used a plastic baseball bat to scare off a mountain lion stalking her young daughter and another child playing in her back yard.

Hilary Gordon said she was washing dishes Wednesday afternoon when she saw a mountain lion creeping toward her daughter, Nicole, and a neighbor, Cory Wilson, both 4. The yard borders a national forest.

“I grabbed a mop, then thought that might look silly and grabbed the bat, which was on the floor among the toys,” Gordon said. “A plastic bat definitely looks more threatening than a mop.”

She said the cougar was less than 20 feet from the children when she chased it into the woods. She said she also chased a lion out of her yard Tuesday.

Craig Westcoatt, district manager for the Colorado Division of Wildlife, asked residents to remove salt licks set for deer and spray the area with ammonia to discourage deer migrations, which are followed by lions.