A hungry mountain lion entered a mountain home near Salida, Colorado, late one afternoon this week, following one of the homeowner’s small dogs through a pet door.
The mountain lion then encountered four more small “guard dogs” in the family’s home, where all five dogs — a Jack Russell Terrier and four Shih-Tzus — attempted to fight off the mountain lion and protect a mother and her son, who were coloring at the kitchen table.
The dogs’ full-on attack allowed the mother and son to run upstairs where another child was sleeping and lock themselves in a bedroom.
Unfortunately, the lion eventually killed one of the dogs and seriously injured two more.
Colorado Division of Wildlife officials tranquilized and then euthanized the lion, which appeared to be malnourished.
At our home farther east, we have seen fresh mountain lion tracks near our home for several weeks now. And, as more and more deer and elk are on the move with the warmer weather the past two weeks, mountain lions will likely be stepping up their last-of-winter hunting. Read why mountains are most active in the winter.
Read more about this week’s Salida mountain lion incident here.
And here’s a Denver Post article on the topic.
Comments (7)
How awful. I have a jack russell and she would protect me, no matter what, too.
Fascinating, informative, heartwarming article! Thanks, Kathy!
What brave dogs! Poor babies.....
Note to self -- no pet door for me!
thanks for the article
Very brave dogs and I'm glad the Mom and children were okay but
breaks my heart to hear about the dogs. I have a Shih Tzus that would do the same for me---she is very protective and might have a slightly better edge since she weighs 33 pounds(yes, I'm a bad Mother!) and when that little(did I say little?) bowling ball as we call her comes at you, you better not get in her way!!!
A wonderful deed of the dogs but sad that they were hurt.
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