Posted on 03/06/2010 5:32:06 AM PST by JoeProBono
Salida, CO - Fox31 KDVR reports of a dramatic mountain lion encounter on Thursday afternoon in Chaffee County.
Around 4 pm, a malnourished mountain lion chased a small dog into the home of Michele Bese and her two young children. The lion entered the home through a doggie door leading to the outside yard.
When the lion first entered the home, Michele was unable to tell if it was a coyote or a mountain lion. She made the mountain lion determination after one of her 5 dogs confronted the animal.
Michele was able to secure her children in a bedroom and dial 911. Deputies arrived to the house and were able to get Michele and her children out through a window.
Meanwhile, officials attempted to lure the mountain lion out of the home. When the lion would not leave, wildlife authorities shot it with a tranquilizer gun.
A search of the house turned up 4 of the 5 family dogs. Those 4 dogs were transported to a veterinary clinic where one died from wounds sustained from the mountain lion encounter. Two other dog suffered serious injuries. A secondary search of the family home turned up the 5th dog who had been hiding.
Authorities eventually ended up euthanizing the mountain lion. The young male weighed only 40 lbs, significantly under the 60 lbs that a lion of his age should weigh. Perhaps his hunger is what lead him to make such a bold move into a house full of people and dogs.
Pet owners in rural areas, or those living in developments which border greenbelts or other forested lands should take note from this traumatic story. Housing developments are spilling over into wildlife areas, pushing the animals into smaller and smaller spaces. Human/wildlife encounters are on the rise.
A local Western Washington news station reported just this morning about the high number of coyotes in the greater Seattle area. Encounters with the coyotes are on the rise. Several stories have also been reported in the past year about the increase of raccoons in neighborhood yards.
As the line between natural, wildlife areas continues to blur with residential housing areas, pet owners will need to become more vigilant. Cats and small dogs left unattended in yards are easy prey to a hungry coyote, mountain lion, or even raccoon.
Dog-doors are wonderful for allowing in/out privileges to pets, but owners should be aware that wildlife can enter the home too. You can purchase electronic dog-doors that open only for your pet(s) who are fitted with a special collar.
I use #4 buck for home defense, at close range it's like a shredder.
One of my favorite breed of dogs!!! Friends had one and he went sailing every chance he got. When we were in the Bahamas, one of his favorite games was diving under the water and picking up conch shells from the bottom. We loved that guy!!!
Yeah....everybody knows that mountain lions have such a dread phobia of phone calls....LOL
Our buzzards stay up on the mountain.
[deer herds cross Rt 40 at the top and lots don’t make it...plus, my dogs in the yard would spook them away from anything tasty laying around]
Worms gotta eat, same as buzzards...:)
We had a neighbor attract a black bear with his feral cat-feeding habits and then call the DNR when the bear started ripping his property to shreds.
The rest of us just blinked in amazement...as if the DNR gives damn.
[and started carrying 30.30s whenever we went in the woods]
We do find unrecognizable dead things up by the pond. We have a raccoon that we call a chupacabra because he's fat and tailless, and a host of possums. The possums are getting fewer. Haven't caught the "chupacabra" out in the open. Found a dying cat by the silo. Sure looked like rabies. So we keep critters away from the house. If they don't learn, the buzzards feast.
Years ago on Sideling Hill, a hunter was crouched by a stream, hunting deer.
He kept feeling like he was being watched.
Finally, he turned around to find a huge mountain lion *also* crouched and hunting...on the tree branch right above and behind him.
No one believed him back then and the DNR viciously defended the non-existence of them *here*.
Last year, on the local rural grocery store front window, there was a big, dire WARNING! sign telling us all it was illegal to shoot the not-here lions and we would be fined $10,000 and face jail time if we did shoot any not-here cats.
At the bottom, there was a 24/7 “Mountain Lion Spotting Hotline” number we could call.
I reckon we were supposed to call periodically to report that we hadn’t see any....just to verify that there weren’t any here and we weren’t shooting them.
[the truth came out later...they *brought* them here on purpose to “control the deer poulation”...which they didn’t. Calves and lambs are so much slower and tastier]
Many years ago when I was a kid, there were “cat-a-mounts” here but farmers and hunters took care of that problem.
They’re baaa-aaack.
Uppity lion. It’s a DOGGIE door!
The neighbor who drew in the bear also drew in coyotes, foxes, skunks and coons.
We then had a rabies epidemic that lasted 3 years whereas before, no one could even recall rabies being here within living memory.
Three rabid coons were killed either in my front yard or just outside my fence.
One was killed up the hill on the idjit’s property and one night, about 1am, I went out to the truck to fetch something in that I’d forgotten and found myself being watched by a skunk at the end of the lane.
After a few seconds of mutual staring, it started hauling ass towards me at a speed I didn’t think skunks could actually attain.
I got back in the house just in time to see it slipping under the gate after me.
That is *not* normal skunk behavior.
The SPCA came out soon after and told him to vaccinate “his” cats or surrender them.
He let them go and they were all killed at the shelter immediately because they knew that his yard was where “ground zero” was and weren’t taking any chances.
Two years ago, my yard “welfare possum” dumped her litter of 5 in my smokehouse and took off.
We fed them until tey could fend for themselves.
[that’s the *only* thing Beneful dog food is good for]...:))
I really loved going out at night with their bowl of Beneful mush.
They’d get so excited about it.
One after another, they grew up and left “home”.
I was very sad to see the last one, who was the very friendly runt, finally head off up into the mountains for a life of her own.
Their welfare mom is still here, gladhanding and mooching off the goats.
They’re in northern Alabama too.
Or smaller dogs that require smaller doggie doors. Actually the door we got for our Yorkie is really a "Kitty Door" but we don't tell her that.
Baaaaaaaaaaaaaad Big kitty!!!!:)=^..^=
Kids these days...
And now you can again. Anything made before 1898, including **MODERN** working copies, plus all black powder weapons can be mailed ordered again.
Get your Cabella's catalog and place your order.
I’ve seen deer, bears, the occasional moose. No mountain lions though. Love the 12 gage. :)
When I was a kid, a neighbor had something jump into the pen with 6 ft high walls to get to the hounds, killed them all and left.
The state told him it could not be a mountain lion. The mystery was never solved but we assumed kitty didn’t like all the barking.
I live in a rural area and fight coyotes constantly. They are smart enough to know not to come back when shot at with a shotgun, but then hunger takes over and back they come to scout our acres. We have very free-range chickens they love to watch hunt and peck, but, so far so good. We also have ducks, goats, cows, horses, dogs and one indoor cat so the coyotes and other hungry critters are always a threat.
Our neighbors have a pygmy goat farm and lost one to a mountain lion recently, confirmed kill by their Vet but the lion moved on.
Years ago, we had a very large dog attacked by one and he lived but we sure lost a lot of cats during our time at that house. When I called Game and Fish to trap, they explained that the cats hunt about a 30 square mile area and it’s impossible to catch them.
I love the country life but you have to be prepared for anything, anytime.
My vote for the smartest dog, would be dog number 5.
Tsk!
;-{)
SSS. Ditto.
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