Weird News Rewind: Roaming Mountain Lion, Big Bird Fired, Dead Flowers and Hawkeye Slippers

Editor's Note: Each weekend Ames Patch brings you the top weird, or strange news from around Iowa. Here's a quick recap on what you may have missed last weekend.

So, we all know Iowa boasts an array of wildlife: Bald eagles, deer and ... mountain lions?

Urbandale residents, along with the rest of Iowa, were buzzing Thursday following news that a mountain lion roaming a northeast Des Moines neighborhood was shot and killed by law enforcement officers because of the proximity to an elementary school.

Is it weird that a Johnston lawsuit has dragged on for more than a decade? Or that the Iowa Court of Appeals knows the name of the horse involved?

A state court upheld a decision by Johnston officials to prohibit resident Andrew Christenson from building a barn to house horses and equipment after older buildings on his property were destroyed in a storm. The prohibition -- which has been the focus of a decade-long legal battle -- meant that Christenson had to find another home for Velvet, the horse who lost its shelter and is named in court papers.

Democrats and many independent voters would likely disagree with this nugget from the campaign between Rep. Steve King and Christie Vilsack, as reported on our Ames site: Iowa in a new radio advertisement titled “My Vote.”

Is it weird to leave objects on someone's doorstep? Unless you're the paper boy, yes.

In West Des Moines, police are investigating a report by a 24-year-old woman who said she is being harassed by a grade-school friend. The man -- who she first saw again a year ago -- has been leaving her dead flowers and Hawkeye football slippers.

And finally, is it weird that Sesame Street's Big Bird is one of the biggest talking points in the nation's zeitgeist following the first presidential debates?

Cedar Falls readers were among those chiming in with their views after Gov. Mitt Romney said during the debate that although he likes Big Bird, he is planning on cutting subsidies to PBS.

See More on Patch

• Weird Iowa: The Ridiculous 4th of July Edition