PALO ALTO, Calif. - A mountain lion that had prowled the streets of residential Palo Alto for hours was shot and killed Monday after a dog chased it up a tree.
An 11-year-old black Labrador named Kelsy caught scent of the big cat and bolted for it, chasing it up a tree until police arrived, according to the dog’s owner, John Furrier.
“She had a ferocious growl that we’ve never heard before,” Furrier said of Kelsy. “I think she’s a hero. I think she could have saved some lives.”
Police had been on the lookout for the lion after it was spotted earlier in the day. Officers who arrived to find it in the tree didn’t have a tranquilizer gun, and the animal started to run off, so they decided to bring it down, said Capt. Torin Fischer.
The neighborhood where the lion was shot was far from the mountains the big cats normally call home. This was in the middle of residential Palo Alto, just a few blocks from an elementary school.
“It’s very rare,” Capt. Fischer said. “I can’t remember something like this in the last five years.”
I understand that mountain lions can and do kill people. I would also give the police respect for insuring public safety. But, I still hate when humans have to kill these animals because “they intrude into our space”. Well, pretty soon, we’ll have to venture out into sea to find places to live with the earth in uninhabitable. We’ll then have to kill whales that threaten our “Bubble homes”.
I remember every once in a while I would run the trails in some of the remote parks and they would have signs warning of Mtn. Lions. Once I was way back in the redwoods all alone and heard quite a comotion in the trees and all I could think of was “Im lion food!” and I took off like a scared rabbit! I dont think I ever ran that fast before.
I’ve read articles suggesting that these big cats are making a comeback. After reading them I always feel a little spooked while running in wooded areas. I usually feel silly for thinking about it. Last fall a mountain lion was captured in Omaha and my area is a lot more rural than that. I’m not sure that my dog would be much help. He’d probably use the old line about not having to outrun the mountain lion, he only has to outrun me.
My parents house in on that very block, amazing. I lived there for over 25 years and never saw anything more wild than a racoon that would steal our dog food at night. It’s really quite a few miles to the nearest woods. I can’t imagine how a mountain lion could have traversed so many city streets to get there.
The part that really got me was the dog owner saying that their dog had a really ferocious growl that they had never heard before. I’ve noticed that my Doberman has several different growls/barks. One night I was woken up by the most horrible barks and growls you’ve ever heard, you just know that she’s downstairs tearing into a whole pack of burglars. I rush downstairs and find out that it is even worse than that … there’s a cat on our front walk!