Cat Burglar: Feline Snatches Dog From Home

Mountain Lion Slinked Into Denver Home And Ate Labrador; Cat Later Trapped And Killed

(CBS/AP)  A mountain lion crept through an open door into a house in the foothills outside Denver, snatched a Labrador retriever from a bedroom where two people were sleeping and left the dog's dead body outside, wildlife managers said Tuesday.

No humans were hurt in the home about 14 miles southwest of Denver.

Wildlife officials later trapped the 130-pound male cat using the dog's body as bait and killed it with a rifle shot.

Colorado Division of Wildlife spokesman Tyler Baskfield said the cat entered the house through open, unscreened French doors early Monday but he didn't know how far into the building the animal went.

It fled with the Labrador after the owners awakened.

"The people got up and looked around and saw the mountain lion's tail leaving the house," Baskfield said.

Baskfield declined to release the homeowners' names.

However, Mack and Jacquie Anderson told Denver television stations that it was their 12-year-old Labrador named Scout that was killed by the lion. Another dog sleeping in the room wasn't harmed.

Jacquie Anderson said they were awakened by a commotion in the room at around 4:30 a.m. and, when she got up to check what was happening, she realized the big cat was in the bedroom. She exclaimed that there was a mountain lion in the room and she believes that led it to run out the open doors with Scout in its mouth. The dog weighed 72 pounds.

Mack told CBS station KCNC-TV he grabbed his shotgun and flashlight but the lion was gone. They then called for help and state wildlife officers, together with a Jefferson County Sheriff's Deputy, did a perimeter search. They found Scout's body on a nearby hill covered in leaves with its neck broken.

The couple said the dogs didn't bark to warn them of the mountain lion.

The dog's owners agreed to have the dog's body used as bait. Baskfield said that was the best way to make sure the right cat was caught, because mountain lions often stash their kills and return for them later.

A necropsy - the animal equivalent of an autopsy - is planned.

Idledale is a small, unincorporated town in the foothills. Mountain lions roam the hills at the base of the mountains west of Denver and have had an increasing number of conflicts with domestic animals and people as development moves farther into the cats' habitat.

Although wild animals ranging from raccoons to bears might amble in through open doors and windows, "it is kind of strange for a large predator like that to come that close to the house," Baskfield said.

Colorado has an estimated 3,000 to 7,000 mountain lions. The Division of Wildlife is conducting studies in western Colorado and in the Boulder area, northwest of Denver, to get a better idea of the population's size and behavior.

Adult male mountain lions can grow to more than 8 feet long and weigh 150 pounds. Their tail may be one-third of their total length.

[Gary Kempf]

A mountain lion crept through an open door into a house in the foothills outside Denver, snatched a Labrador retriever from a bedroom.

These people are not only stupid, but very lucky at being stupid. Who leaves open a door in mountain lion country?

[katia327]

Who TITLES this ''Cat Burglar'', as if to feign some type of humor about this horrible story?

navpro, you''re right. Stupid, stupid people.

[kaffirboetie]

Was there any good reason to shoot this poor animal? It was simply following its natural hunting instincts

[jn122736]

From the article: %u2018%u2019However, Mack and Jacquie Anderson told Denver television stations that it was their 12-year-old Labrador named Scout that was killed by the lion. Another dog sleeping in the room wasn''t harmed.
The couple said the dogs didn''t bark to warn them of the mountain lion.%u2019%u2019
~~~~~~~~~~~

This incident is almost totally opposite to the norm. Although mountain lions have been known to kill and eat dogs, they normally run from them.

Dogs, especially hounds, are used extensively in mountain lion hunting.

Hunters generally find fresh mountain lion tracks, loose the hounds, and follow the sounds of the dogs until they start barking treed, indicating that the mountain lion has stopped running and has climbed a tree or other refuge away from the dogs.

Even if the lion did enter the house, the dogs would certainly have heard and/or smelled him when he did.

For the lion to be able to enter the house where TWO dogs were and attack one of the dogs without either one barking is REALLY weird.

Perhaps mountain lions are becoming so familiar with nonviolent dogs (and humans) that they are beginning to allowing their own food hunting instinct to replace their fear and natural tendency to run from dogs, while at the same time the dogs (pets) are becoming so familiar with intruding mountain lions that they now ignore them instead of barking and chasing after them.

If that is the case, then just how safe are small children?

[msay3]

A wild animal does what wild animals do for survival, and gets shot because of the stupid mentality of humans who have infringed upon the animal''s habitat...You don''t leave doors unlocked and open no matter where you live...There are predators in the city as well as the country....When will people learn? It could have been a child that was carried off and killed....I am sorry for the poor Lab, I am a Lab owner and lover myself, and can understand the pain of the loss, but GEESH!!! It all could have been avoided by turning a 2 inch long piece of metal to the lock position.....

[kennedy7955]

Need I say there was a reason why these cats and other predators were killed off as people first moved into these areas? Conservation is going to lead to human and animal fatalities and nobody should be surprised.

[rf35]

Was there any good reason to shoot this poor animal? It was simply following its natural hunting instincts
Posted by Kaffirboetie

While I think the people who left their doors open while they slept are idiots and feel it was a shame to kill the lion, it was necessary. After such an incident, the lion would see peoples'' houses as an easy source of food. Next time, it could have been a child instead of a dog.

[rf35]

Conservation is going to lead to human and animal fatalities and nobody should be surprised.
Posted by kennedy7955

If humans would reproduce a little less, we wouldn''t have to worry about conflicts with wildlife. The inability of people to control their breeding is not sufficient reason to drive any species to extinction.

[usclimey]

While I think the people who left their doors open while they slept are idiots and feel it was a shame to kill the lion, it was necessary. After such an incident, the lion would see peoples'''' houses as an easy source of food. Next time, it could have been a child instead of a dog.

Posted by rf35

Good, then there''d be less people stupid enough to live in lion country.

[usclimey]

Dogs, especially hounds, are used extensively in mountain lion hunting.

Posted by jn122736

I thought using dogs for hunting had been outlawed in California. It should be banned everywhere, just like fox hunting in the UK. Trophy hunting is bad enough, and that''s all lion hunting is, doing it with dogs is just plain viscous, evil, mean and nasty.

[BC Kelly]

The Headline for this story is:

Sophomoric attempt at humor where there should be no attempt at all

A lie - nothing in the story says the cat ate the dog

Not up to CBS Standards as established by Paley, Murrow, et al


Thank You
BC Kelly
Tallahassee Fla

[deacon20081]

To all of the bleeding hearts protesting the shooting of the big cat......grow up.
What if it was YOUR BABY in it''s mouth.....Or move to Australia then a Dingo can eat your babay.

Only foolish tourists with citified minds leave their door open in the mountains LOL

The Game and Fish will boil that cats head and study it, I gurantee it. Been there seen that.