A woman who picked up a mountain lion believing it to be a dog escaped her encounter with nothing worse than a few scratches.
The woman, who hasn’t been named, tried to intervene when she saw her dog fighting with what she thought was another dog outside her home in Iowa on January 30.
According to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG), she only clocked the slightly terrifying truth when she separated the two scrapping animals.
While the woman and dog escaped with only scratches, sadly the incident did not end well for the lion.
She called for her husband, who emerged from their home with a gun and, according to the IDFG, “quickly dispatched the mountain lion as she held on to it”.
It was, according to Iowa authorities, the third incident of a mountain lion – which are also known as a cougar or a puma – attacking a dog in January.
We’ve stepped up patrols at Horsetooth Mountain Open Space following yesterday’s incident between a mountain lion & visitor. Remember you’re recreating in lion habitat when you visit Horsetooth Mountain. Tips if you encounter a lion: https://t.co/x9F6MRQ42c #HTMOS @CPW_NE pic.twitter.com/m3amq0DxLU
— Larimer County DNR (@LCDNR) February 5, 2019
Earlier this week, officials in Colorado revealed a man was attacked by a mountain lion while out running.
Remarkably, the man fought back and managed to choke the animal with his bare hands.
