Mountain Lion Kills Dog

[MA-Caver]

Another reason why you don't leave your doors wide open.

Mountain lion that snatched dog killed, door to bedroom left open.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/17098676/detail.html?rss=den&psp=news

posted: 9:00 am mdt august 5, 2008
updated: 6:43 pm mdt august 5, 2008
-- a hungry mountain lion that snatched a labrador retriever from a bedroom in the foothills southwest of Denver has been killed. State wildlife managers said the lion entered the bedroom early Monday through a french door the owners left open, probably to cool the house. The door did not have a screen. The owners were asleep in the same room when the cougar crept in at 4:30 a.m. The wife woke up and the big cat grabbed the 12-year-old dog and ran away.

For this animal this is a pretty bold move. The cause of it will probably never be known as to why this cat brazenly walked into a home and snatched a large dog and ran off with it.
The fact that the dog weighed roughly 75 pounds the animal still managed to jump a fence with the dog in it's mouth. Whats even more odd is that neither of the two dogs barked when the cat was in the house or even when the animal approached the house. Why it went for one and not the other is another mystery as well as why the dogs didn't even try to defend themselves or their masters.
What is very frightening about this story is that the couple sometimes have their grandchildren over to visit.
Out in the mountains its wonderful, the air is fresh and it's simply beautiful... it's also wild and dangerous. Precautions and common sense must prevail in areas like these.

 

[Jade Tigress]

Wow, that is a big dog for a cougar to snatch. As far as the barking, some dogs, no matter how large, are just too friendly (or stupid) to do anything no matter what kind of intruder enters. Wild story and thankfully no people were killed or injured.

One of our neighbors had their small dog snatched out of the yard by a coyote this summer, but that is far more common. Odd that the owners would sleep with french doors without a screen wide open. The bugs alone would be awful I'd think, not to mention the possibility of various other creatures wandering in.

 

[Kacey]

I saw that on the news last night... very freaky.

 

[jkembry]

As sad as it is that something like this would happen, I still believe that humans are partly the blame by over-development in this country and encroaching on where they would normally hunt. I suspect the mountain lion was just looking for easy food.

 

[Brian King]

Mountain lions are ambush attackers and like all cats key to attack from quick movement. When they start to appear around humans, there is usually a reason, drought and lack of food in the higher country, they are injured or sick or they have rabies. The sick and injured and rabies can often cause them to act contrary to their nature. This cat was destroyed, does anybody know why? We get privations around here from raccoons (there are a couple of areas where they have been killing off numerous large dogs) prey birds, coyotes, wolves, bears and cougs. It happens more than people think, house cats are usually first followed by the neighborhood dogs. You can see sign if you look the most obvious is numerous missing cat photos on the bulletin boards. For the larger animals out here they usually trap them then release them far away (wolves, cougs and bears). They only destroy them if the animal is injured or determined to be a danger to people (kids).
Interesting article thanks

Regards
Brian King

 

[bluemtn]

You also have to consider the dog's age- 12 years old isn't exactly young, especially for a large dog. Mountain lions (or any other predatory animal) will go for the real young or old(er), weak, or ill. Can't really explain why NO ONE heard anything- that's beyond me. Especially with the door wide open.

 

[MA-Caver]

Mountain lions are ambush attackers and like all cats key to attack from quick movement. When they start to appear around humans, there is usually a reason, drought and lack of food in the higher country, they are injured or sick or they have rabies. The sick and injured and rabies can often cause them to act contrary to their nature. This cat was destroyed, does anybody know why? We get privations around here from raccoons (there are a couple of areas where they have been killing off numerous large dogs) prey birds, coyotes, wolves, bears and cougs. It happens more than people think, house cats are usually first followed by the neighborhood dogs. You can see sign if you look the most obvious is numerous missing cat photos on the bulletin boards. For the larger animals out here they usually trap them then release them far away (wolves, cougs and bears). They only destroy them if the animal is injured or determined to be a danger to people (kids).
Interesting article thanks

Regards
Brian King

Well this particular cougar went totally against the grain by ENTERING the domicile (to them a den) and ignoring all the warning signs via smells of humans and dogs, which to the cat must've been overwhelming and proceeded "deep" inside to grab the dog and then drag it all back out and make off with it.
Dunno if this was rabid... doesn't sound like rabid behavior. Usually it's something where the animal doesn't go through all that trouble. I've seen rabid animals including cats and they're all over the place and attack anything and everything... literally, trees, bushes, a kid's wagon... so I'd be surprised if this particular cat was rabid.
Also the report said that the sheriff's dept. left the dead dog out where they found it buried and waited for the cat to return... which it did and so they were able to kill it. Rabid animals don't do that.

But as far as neighborhood cats going missing... well I think we all know the answer to THAT one....

 

[Brian King]

From my very limited understanding of rabid animals is that they go thru phases.
First is the initial infection
Second is a dumb phase (may seem to be drunkish staggering about. They also do not exhibit their normal caution and fear
Third is the rage phase

Just this week got my cable and internet hooked up at the new home and was watching some story about a little ten year old in Colorado that was attacked by a rabid cougar. The family was by a river and the cougar just walked straight up to the boy. The boy’s father yelled at him not to run. The cougar put his paw on the boys shoulder and mouthed the boys head then would walk off a couple of steps turn around and do it again. The boy’s uncle ran to his truck and retrieving a handgun and fired a warning shot which had no effect to on the cougar who ignored the shot then when the cougar was about ten feet from the boy but turning back the uncle shot the cougar dead. The show had interviews with wildlife experts that responded to the scene and they recounted how they were confused and a little skeptical of the story until the cat’s autopsy came back as rabid. They said that the cat was likely in the confused/dumb phase which would explain why the cat was not afraid of the humans, ignored the warning shot and seemed confused on what to do with the boy.

LOL at the photo, that is funny

Thanks for the laugh and the info
Regards
Brian

 

[girlbug2]

French doors do not usually have screens -- that's the nature of French doors

 

[Kacey]

And the next day, a different mountain lion killed a deer in someone's driveway, then hid in the garden, in Boulder.

Lion kills deer right in man's driveway

This past weekend, a large mountain lion killed a deer in a driveway in the 600 block of Locust Street in Boulder.
It was Paul Shippey's driveway. He says the first thing they heard was a scream.
"It was a very strange, guttural screaming sound. It sounds like two cats fighting, but it's a weird sound," he said. "It's spooky. You know, it sounds like some weird alien sound. It's not a sound humans are used to, I don't think. It's kind of like a screech and a bleat."

.....
"I was literally looking through the eye piece, the viewfinder of the camera, and all of a sudden, my neighbor Barbara next to me said, 'Oh my God, the lion's there.' And I was stunned. I didn't believe it," he said. "I looked and I could see the breathing chest of the cat right there, so I guess we'd been within four feet of this guy."
.....
Wildlife agents say the cat was wearing a radio tracking collar, and had been trapped on previous occasions. It's one of 15 mountain lions being used in a statewide survey which is aimed at helping at helping agents better understand where the lions travel. One goal of the study is to see if the big cats can be trained to stay farther away from humans.