A women has just knocked on the door & told me infront of my 3 children she found Puma sized prints in her garden.

[TheSleepFairy]

Thank fuck DD's don't know what a puma is!!!
Said negibour then went on about how huge they were & that she feared it was after her rabbits etc.

AIBU to think she is thoughless?

DD's are 8, 6 & 2 & currently think she found reindeer foot prints in her garden

We used to allegedly have a local puma, although we haven't heard much about it recently.

MrsFC!

I want a neighbourhood puma.

Bit gutted I don't have a rampaging Puma in my area.

There is a particularly aggressive mole?

Am I the only one to love the thought of late night doggers dog walkers?

OP YABU and slightly nuts

YABU. My DD would be ecstatically excited at the thought of a puma roaming the neighbourhood.

Easy to tell the difference between the paw print of a large dog and a big cat - dog or fox prints have claw marks, cat prints (since cats have retractable claws) do not.

This is not scary, op. This is a Story.

The prints will widen as the temperature increases, so if it is just warming up after a snowfall, the cats prints will easily turn into puma prints.

There is a playing field next to my sons preschool. In spring r day they too all the children out to look at the "troll footprints" as somebody had ran across the field and into a nearby forest. The footprints were enlarged due to the sun shining on them......

That's just brilliant!!! lol

OP YABU - just a tad tho! :D I guess if she had came in the evening when the kids were in bed, which you have said you would have preferred then you would probs be oon here with the same story but talking about how she woke ur kids all up!!!

I wouldn't stress about it, we are meant to have a puma around here, but i've yet to see any tracks.

My 8y old does not find it adventurous & she isn't ecstatically excited at the thought of some free roaming large cat eating her poor little moggie.

my 6y old has dusted off her pop up dora tent & is ready to make a new friend

peering thanks for the information, I will bear it in mind when I check for new snow marks yeah right in the morning.

Actually IABU to assume your DD would react the same as mine. But YABU to be cross that the woman said what she did, and for having children that age who don't know what a puma is.

Oh, and you're welcome.

i thought you told them it was a reindeer?

It was me !

I have puma envy .

Flea-bitten foxes are as exciting as it gets round here.

Maybe your DC made them to scare her.

To scare a puma off make yourself big, jump and down and shout and wave your arms around. This is how cats threaten each other. For God's sake DO NOT run away -- you know how much cats like to chase things??

Opposite of what to do if you encounter a big bear -- with bears you lie down very still and play dead (they don't eat carrion unless near starvation).

Oh, ragged and [weeing yourself a little bit] emoticon

I think you just made this a Mumsnet Classic.

What?

Why should your children not know? FFS mine would be ecstatic! So would I. Or is 'puma' a euphemism for some sort of unsavoury alfresco sexual practice?

Very rich people used to keep them as pets/rivate zoo animals. Then the law was changed and exotic animals had to be kept a certain way. Lots of these were just released into the wild.

I'm not cross with the neighbour, just a bit that she knocked & spoke about large animal prints "must be that puma then" infront 3 kids without actually having a first clue what had made them.

There were 3 prints apparently, 3? that must be that flying puma then.

8y old heard pruma not puma hence me then trying to unsuccessfully blame the foot prints on a reindeer - I was in a christmassy mood & thinking off the cuff!!

I'm glad I posted, I'm learning lot's about puma/bear tactics.

I'd love to see a puma . There have been a number of puma sightings about 6 miles away but I've only ever see a lynx (dead after being hit by a car). We also have wallabies here too.

Funnily enough, DD is looking at a video of baby pumas on my iphone right now.

This has to go in Mumsnet Classics, surely.

Dp says was she talking about the puma car or the helicopter? might explain 3 prints lol