Police set up secret cameras to try and catch a mountain lion and then everything got surreal.

On March 29, young mountain lions attacked a 7-year-old boy in Canada, but they were fought off by the boy's mother. This came on the heels of encounters in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Palestine, Texas, and Santa Barbara, California.

The recent encounters in the news aren’t a fluke, but actually the sign of something good. Since the ‘60s, conservation efforts have helped replenish the mountain lion population in North America, so they’re becoming more visible to humans.

“From the '60s until now, you've had a steady progression of conservation benchmarks that have brought us to the distribution of mountain lions in the west,” Jim Williams, regional director for the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, told ABC News.

With news of mountain lion sightings on the rise, a funny story from three years ago needs to be retold.

A mountain lion was spotted in the area around Gardner, Kansas. So the local police decided to set up a camera to try and capture the beast. But shortly after the camera got rolling, things started to get weird. Like, surreal in an Italian expressionist film from the 1950s weird.

First, the camera captured a skunk wandering by. No biggie.

via Gardner Police Department / Facebook

Then a coyote sniffed around for a bit. Dangerous, but not out of the norm.

Gardner Police Department / Facebook

The a person using a walker carrying a sword-like object ambled on by. That's a little strange.

Gardner Police Department / Facebook

OK, so what’s this dude in a gas mask carrying plastic bag up to?

Gardner Police Department / Facebook

Things got scary when a guy in a cheap-ass gorilla suit showed up looking like a cross between a ‘60s "Star Trek" alien and a guy you’d see in the stands at a Raider game.

Gardner Police Department / Facebook

Then someone — who’s probably a friend of the gorilla — strutted on by wearing a werewolf mask, high heels, and a white onesie.

Gardner Police Department / Facebook

Some creature that looks like the swamp thing Sasquatch-walked its way by the camera.

Gardner Police Department / Facebook

Then two alien gorillas joined each other in what appears to be a loving embrace. My god, let’s hope they don’t mate.

Gardner Police Department / Facebook

The Gardner Police Department released the bizarre photos and now it looks like the mountain lion was the least of its problems.

Wildlife concerns: The Gardner Police Department was contacted recently about concern over the possibility of a mountain...

Posted by Gardner Police Department on Monday, November 28, 2016

Stay safe out there.

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