We’ve all heard some startling stories recently about ballsy mountain lions and coyotes behaving a bit out of character. Even some bears have just barged right in. They’re usually food related, but this one is pretty scary. It seems a woman in Sonoma County, California, had an encounter with a puma that had the cheek to just stroll into her home and snatch her border collie up by the scruff of the neck and drag it outside before fleeing.
Mountain Lions
The temerity of the move left resident Rebecca Kracker floored and quite shaken. “This is not normal. There’s something wrong with this mountain lion,” Kracker told FOX’s KTVU News. “She shouldn’t be walking into my house. She should have some fear.” But, apparently, she didn’t because the cougar was bearing her teeth and hissing during the terrifying encounter between the big cat and the much smaller dog.
Wildlife Encounters of the Worst Kind
While it’s unclear exactly how or where the mountain lion entered the home at this point, the border collie named Sherman was inside minding its own business when the attack happened. The dog was said to have “passed out from shock” when it happened, leaving his owner to believe he was dead. The cat then drug poor Sherman outside to the backyard patio before it was scared off by Kracker. Sherman came to after it left, but the tenacious cat reportedly returned days later and killed two of Kracker’s goats the second go around.
Border Collies
While Sherman survived, the mountain lion was eventually tracked down and euthanized. Border Collies are a Scottish breed of herding dog of medium size. Widely considered to be the most intelligent dog breed, males weigh on average between 30–45 pounds and females between 27–42 pounds. They stand roughly 20 inches tall.
Mountain lions, on the other hand, are much larger. Adult males can be more than eight feet in length and weigh between 135-175 pounds. Females may be up to seven feet long and weigh between 90-105 pounds. The animals can stand 2-3 feet at the shoulder, so it’s not much of a competition between them and most dogs.
The moral of the story? Keep your doors closed if you live in mountain lion country.
This article by Rebecca West was first published by The Animal Rescue Site. Lead Image: PHOTO: PIXABAY/BURNTPOET.
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