Idiots.
SERIES!!!
These people apparently don't like their child enough to invest in a shotgun.
These people sound like idiots. They didn't do anything the animal officer told them to do.
A mountain lion prowling around for easy meals has been scaring a...family ever since it killed one of the family's cats two weeks ago.
...One of her cats scooted out the door, right into the clutches of a mountain lion not 2 feet from her.
Stop feeding it!
These people are idiots. They haven't done anything necessary to protect themselves.
Waiting to see if it's a threat to humans is stupid! That's when it's too late.
Once an animal starts hanging around an area, as if it's a feeding ground, you've got to move it, or shoot it.
We lost a calf four days ago to a couple of stray dogs. We had seen them on our property a week earlier, and shot at them, but missed because it was night. Still, that didn't deter them. They came back and started to attack one of the calves. This time, the neighbor's border collie ran them off. At the time, we suspected the dogs, but hadn't seen them so we weren't sure. The vet thought the injuries might be from a large cat. So, our ranch foreman slept outside to keep watch because it's very difficult to keep a cat out of the fences. Nothing showed up for two nights. Then, in the morning, the dogs got in and went after all three calves. Two are hurt badly, and one we had to put down due to it's severe injuries. We caught up with the dogs and shot them. There's no getting between a wild animal and it's perceived meal. Once those dogs had tasted blood on our property, they weren't going anywhere until they got what they were after, or were killed. It's almost like these animals obsess. The cat either has to be tranquilized and physically moved far far away, or shot dead. Otherwise there are going to be irreverible consequences.
"..she opened the door a little, a piece of firewood in one hand."
Dumbaxx. I live in town, and if it's after dark, I don't open the door without Mr. Glock in hand. Not ideal for mountain lion (my favorite cat, at a distance) but I suspect that by employing the "empty the magazine" school of thought it would have done more good than a piece of frickin wood.