Mountain Lion Snatches Dog From Family’s Bedroom in California

Most people don’t really have to worry about mountain lions, even if they live near their habitats. Mountain lion attacks against humans are pretty rare, and are almost nonexistent outside of state and national parks. However, attacks against pets are a different story, as one family in Pescadero, California recently learned.

Early Monday morning, Vickie Fought and her 12-year-old daughter were sleeping as their small Portuguese Podengo dog laid at the foot of their bed. Earlier in the night, they had left the bedroom door open in case the dog wanted to get out. They woke up hours later when the dog started barking ferociously, but their pet went silent moments later. Then Vickie saw a dark figure slip out of the bedroom door and into the night.

“For a second, I thought ‘Oh, she recognizes Leo, our bigger dog.’ Then I saw the lion walk back out the door,” Fought told NBC Bay Area. The mountain lion had casually walked through their bedroom door (which was only a foot away from their bed), snatched the dog and walked out.

Vickie went outside with a flashlight to search for the dog, but only found footprints. She called the police, who would later find that the prints matched the description of a typical mountain lion print. The police searched the area, but as you might have guessed, they failed to find the dog or the mountain lion.