Colorado couple find mountain lion under their back deck

July 12 (UPI) -- Wildlife officials in Colorado said a mountain lion was relocated after a couple found the 60-pound animal lurking under the deck of their home.

Lily Rutledge-Ellison said she and her boyfriend were alerted to the presence of something under their Englewood deck when their cat, Wesley, started acting unusually.

"We were walking with him and he went under the deck and came jumping out with a really bushy tail," Rutledge-Ellison told KDVR-TV.

She said her boyfriend looked under the deck and came face to face with a mountain lion.

"I was like, 'In Englewood? No way.' That's why I really didn't believe it was a mountain lion. I thought maybe a bobcat," Rutledge-Ellison said.

The couple summoned Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers, who spent about five hours working to safely extract the cougar without harming the animal.

CPW officials said they decided to relocate the mountain lion since it had ventured so far into an urban area.

"The reason we chose to go hands-on with this mountain lion was because it was so deep in the heart of the city," Area Wildlife Manager Matt Martinez said in a CPW release. "We are glad this operation worked out so smoothly for that neighborhood and for the mountain lion. We'd like to thank the Englewood Police Department and Code Enforcement for assisting us in getting that lion out safely."

The mountain lion was taken to a safe location outside of town and released, CPW said.