GEORGETOWN, Texas — EDITOR'S NOTE: This article has been updated with a response from Texas Parks and Wildlife. The video above was published prior to their response.
Animal owners in Williamson County have recently lost many pets and livestock to something killing and eating them. A Texas game warden in Williamson County said a mountain lion is likely behind the attacks.
"Based on what (a neighbor) told me, it sounds like it was a mountain lion," Game Warden Joel Campos said. "However, since I didn't see it, I can't confirm that."
However, Steve Lightfoot, the press office manager for Texas Parks and Wildlife, is offering a different explanation.
"Texas Parks and Wildlife Department game wardens were contacted but were not able to confirm that the goat was killed by a mountain lion because the evidence had already been buried ... The evidence presented in the interview (re: chickens missing) does not match typical mountain lion behaviors. In fact, similar events in the area and information shared with TPWD suggests the culprits could be dogs or a coyote."
Whatever the culprits are, ranch owners are saying something is killing their animals in Williamson County.
Marya Welch lives in Georgetown and has had some trouble with one of these animals. She recently went outside to find her miniature pet goat torn apart in the corner of her pen.
"She was an African pygmy, and her name was Penny," Welch said. "I just cried my eyes out. She had big dime-size puncture wounds where her throat was. It was devastating to lose her because she was just the sweetest goat."
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Welch said she called game warden Campos to tell him what had happened. Campos said since the goat was buried before he could make it out there, he can't be certain what is out there right now.
"I called my neighbor to let him know that this had happened to my goat and he said, 'I've lost 25 chickens,'" Welch said.
That neighbor is Kance Sefcik, who sells chicken eggs as a part of his business.
"Customers come and buy firewood from me," Sefcik said. "I sell them a few eggs for a good price."
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A couple of weeks ago, one of Sefcik's workers forgot to put the chickens up for the night, which caused a major hit to his business.
"They roost in the coup, and they all have their own place," Sefcik said. "I went out of town for business in Louisiana and when I came back, one of my workers forgot to put them up just one night. That one night, something got in there and took about 25 of them."
After talking with a couple of different neighbors, Sefcik said he believed his chickens had been taken away by some animal.
"The neighbors over here had 20 chickens and 10 ducks disappear about the same time my chickens did," Sefcik said. "This was from a mountain lion."
Welch hopes no one else loses a pet like Penny.
"I want to let people know in this area that this thing is here," Welch said.
Mountain lion sightings are rare in this area, but they do happen. A home security camera captured one in January crossing a yard in Leander, near this Georgetown area.
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