People in the Silver City/Pinos Altos, New Mexico, vicinity are nervously looking over their shoulders these days, fearing they may be the next meal for a mountain lion prowling the area. Silver City is a high-desert town of 30,000 residents, adjacent to the mountainous 3-million-acre Gila Wilderness in southwestern New Mexico. Pinos Altos is an historic old gold mining town about 7 miles from Silver City.
On Friday, the body of Robert Nowojski, 55, was found about 75 yards from his Pinos Altos home, severely mauled and partly fed upon. Officers responding to a missing-person report filed by a family member, sighted a mountain lion in the area when they arrived at Nowojski’s residence. The animal would not leave until Game and Fish officers shot at it.
Although not yet confirmed with an autopsy, authorities suspect the lion is responsible for the fatal attack. Hunters with hounds are now tracking the animal.
Several people reported sightings of the mountain lion to the Game and Fish department in the past several weeks. One said he and his wife spotted the animal during a hike. They had a closer confrontation when it “came out of the forest and stood across the barbed wire fence from myself, my wife and our dog," he said. "We left the scene and it stayed. A day later a mountain lion stalked us home and (came) up our driveway." The man armed himself with a shotgun with rubber bullets and when the animal followed him once again, he fired at it. “I got two shots off at it, but I am not sure if I hit it. I have not seen it since." He estimated the animal weighed about 200 pounds.
The big cat has been in other neighbors’ backyards and even looked into their windows.
The animal has not shown a fear of humans, possibly because someone has been feeding it for the last month and photographing it when it comes to eat. The possibility that this activity may have been partly responsible for a man’s death has outraged many residents. One person wrote that “Animals don’t know any better when people set out food for them; humans should. They need to be educated on how to leave wild critters alone and not bait them. We enjoy the visits (of wild animals), but don’t enjoy having neighbors killed by the foolish behavior of uneducated people looking to get a photo op. This is insane!”
The Silver City Chamber of Commerce advises residents to be aware of the wild animals living in the mountains. "Encounters with wild animals are not common, but bears are sometimes seen even on the outskirts of Silver City. Other wild animals include mountain lions, Mexican gray wolves, elk, bobcats, coatimundi, and more. Mule deer are probably the County’s most-often seen large animal and are quite common in parts of the County."