The rivalry between dogs and cats has long been documented, and now we get to see an example of pet dogs even going after big cats out in the wild.
Sandy Ali, a homeowner in Morada, California, was in for quite the surprise this past weekend. Her dog Rocco was outside in the backyard while she had guests over at her place, and the dog’s role quickly shifted from “pet” to “security” when a wild animal found its way onto the property.
Ali spoke to KCRA 3 News to explain how she ended up finding out that a mountain lion was running loose in her backyard:
“I was having a bible study in our recreation room. My friend looked out and said, ‘Oh your dogs are playing’ and I said, ‘I only have one dog.'”
Sure enough, Rocco the dog was playfully chasing around the mountain lion in the back property, and it was all caught on security camera footage pointed out towards the back lawn.
The comment from the friend caused Sandy to look the window and discover that her dog was having a playdate with a wild cat.
Ali says that she’s lived in the Morada, California area for a while and had never seen a mountain lion until this moment. She quickly went outside to get her dog back in, and when she did, she spotted the big cat jumping up into a tree.
Sandy Ali decided to call 911 to report the incident, and many officials and agencies to respond to her home. Authorities tracked down the mountain lion up in the tree and tried to wait it out to trap it. However, after multiple hours of no movement, the officials then opted to try and tranquilize the animal so they could relocate it.
Doing so scared the mountain lion, and caused it to jump down from the tree and escape into a field near Ali’s house. The location of the big cat is still unknown, so the Sheriff’s office has asked people living in the area to keep an eye out and make sure that they keep their pets inside.
That is unless their dog wants to play a game of tag with the mountain lion like Rocco did. To be honest, it is hilarious to see the dog and cat chasing one another around like they are the best of friends. I’d say the dog was having more fun than the cat though.
Take a look:
Man Scares The Crap Out Of His Dog When He Puts On A Mountain Lion Rug
This is just cruel… and kinda hilarious at the same time.
For all of us with dogs, we all know that they tend to be a little skittish whenever they’re around somebody or something they’ve never seen before.
Ya know, they’re a little curious, a little scared…
But how does a dog react when it comes face to face with a cougar?
Well this family from Zeballos, British Columbia, tried to figure this out themselves with their dog, and needless to say, it’s pretty damn funny.
And how did they try this out, you may ask?
One of them snuck up on their one-year-old dog Cedar by covering themselves with a cougar rug.
They call Cedar outside, while the person in the cougar rug costume is hiding behind the truck.
Cedar starts to make its way around the front of the truck, and SHEESH.
Cedar jumps back about 15 feet, confused and startled as hell, and begins to bark, thinking that there’s actually a cougar staring right back.
A part of me thinks this is cruel, because Cedar may be scarred for life after this one, but another part of me wishes I had a cougar rug so I could mess with my own dog for a minute.
GOLD.
Quick-Thinking Plumber Kicks Mountain Lion In The Head To Save Dog From Vicious Attack
That poor dog.
Red, a Ridgeback-German Shepherd cross, experienced a life-threatening situation recently, after being the victim of a cougar attack in Grand Forks, British Columbia, according to CBC.
Red’s owner Ian Orser, a 69-year-old local plumber in the area, was working in a residential neighborhood near Christina Lake on April 9th when him and his 40-year-old daughter, Megan, heard a loud commotion full of howling going on outside.
He ran outside, only to find Red struggling with a cougar, with her head being practically swallowed by the wild animal.
Orser told the outlet:
“We thought it was a dog fight at first. My daughter went down there, and she just yelled, ‘It’s a cougar!’
The only thing I could think of doing was to kick it in the head. If I would have thought about it, I probably wouldn’t have ran over there. But I just had to save our dog.”
Luckily enough, the kick was just enough to startle the cougar, but it stuck around.
Orser said he then swung a stick at the big cat, but it still wouldn’t run off. He and his daughter then grabbed Red and the other two dogs with them, hopped in his truck, and headed straight to the vet.
Red was treated for her wounds, and Orser says she is doing fine now.
However, he believes that if it were his other two dogs, both springer spaniels, the situation would’ve been much worse.
He said:
“I think they would have been dead because they are a lot smaller.”
Orser reported the incident to conservation officers, and the B.C. Conservation Officer Service confirmed that they had received numerous reports of a cougar in that specific residential area.
They tracked the cougar down, and were forced to put it down due to the safety risk to the public.
Tiny Dog Won’t Back Down From Large Mountain Lion
Que Tom Petty singing “I won’t back down.”
What a standoff.
Mountain lions ain’t nothing to mess with. They are elusive predators, that are one of the best and fastest killers in North America. They strike quick, quiet, and hard, going straight for the kill zone. Cougars are trained hunters, they know what they are doing.
Most animals’ lives consist of finding food so they can get the chance to mate when the time comes.
It just so happens mountain lions almost only exclusively hunt. The old saying goes “where there’s deer, there’s cougars.” They follow the food source.
They can weigh up to 175-pounds. They eat anywhere from 10 to 15 pounds of meat in a day…
Yup, they have to kill a lot of animals to be able to survive.
So, it comes as no surprise with ongoing urban sprawl and the constant development from humans that there are an increasing number of encounters, especially in areas with homes.
Of course, a killer like this would be attracted to an area with lots of pets tied up in the backyard for the taking. Dinner on a leash. I wish I could have a hunt that easy.
This video shows a mountain lion outside someone’s home with their small dog standing in the window in an intense stare off.
The mountain lion with a killer look in its eyes moves in so close only the glass is between them as the dog and lion stand face-to-face.
The lion even touches the glasses to understand why it can’t just snag the dog as the owner begins to panic.
The little dog doesn’t flinch as the cougar goes back and forth before deciding to take off.
I guess the little lad could be a guard dog…
It’s not about the size of the dog in the fight, its about the size of the fight in the dog.
