David Simmons/Photo provided
Amid a spate of attacks on pets and livestock, another Silverthorne resident has reported an encounter with a mountain lion, but state wildlife officials are unsure whether his encounter was an ocelot.
David Simmons lives in the nearby Mount Ptarmigan area, where Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials said they were tracking a mountain lion that may have been behind recent attacks on pets and goats.
Shortly after 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 5, Simmons said she fed her blue heeler/pit bull mix, Mowgli, and let the approximately 45-pound dog outside. Simmons said she turned around to prepare dinner when she heard a loud “cat meow.”
Simmons said when she backed away, she saw the mountain lion holding Mowgli down just outside the door. He said he jumped towards the pet to stop the animal from attacking it.
“It was a split-second decision, half a second,” Simmons said. “All I could think to do was step forward with both feet and come down as fast as I could to separate the cat from the dog.”
Simmons said when he made contact with the creature, it threw him and landed on a concrete patio before running off. When he got up, Simmons said he knew Mowgli was okay because the dog stood up and looked at him.
Simmons said Mowgli had cuts on both sides of his torso and some scratches on his legs and near his eyes, but was treated at a veterinary hospital. He called the encounter “insane” and said everything is still sinking in.
“I was very lucky. There was no thought process there. You know what I'm saying, right?” Simmons said. “A cat has a dog. There's one split-second decision: 'Okay, cat, it's you and me.'
The day before Mowgli's attack, a mountain lion attacked a dog Sunday night near an elementary school in the Silverthorne area, just a few miles away. The owner yelled and lunged at the mountain lion, and the cat reported running away.
But Alex Strasser, wildlife manager for Colorado Parks and Wildlife Districts, said the state wildlife agency isn't so sure the creature that attacked Mowgli on Monday night was a mountain lion. Strasser said he and another wildlife officer went to Simmons' home after the attack and found no mountain lion tracks.
Strasser said he found what appeared to be tracks from a coyote or his dog. He said his expert opinion was that it was “still very likely” that a mountain lion was behind the attack, but that another animal was likely behind the attack.
“It doesn't look like a lion,” Strasser said. “I’m not saying he wasn’t.”
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Whether a mountain lion or another creature was behind this recent attack, pet owners in Colorado's Rocky Mountains can take simple steps to protect their beloved animals from wild animals like mountain lions and coyotes. can do.
According to the Colorado Department of Parks and Wildlife, pets should not be allowed to roam, especially at dusk or dawn, and should be kept within sight or preferably on a leash. Pet owners should avoid leaving pet food outside as it may attract wild animals.
The day after the attack, Mowgli was celebrating his seventh birthday while recuperating at the distillery where Simmons works. Wildlife officials aren't sure what kind of creature attacked Mowgli, but Simmons said that's not the case.
“It was a (expletive) cat. We can make that argument all we want. The (wildlife officer) was not there,” Simmons said. “I'm still in shock. I had to jump on a mountain lion.”
