Man fights cougar for his dog

[Catherine]

A man in Alberta attacked a cougar that had his dog. He didn't even stop to think what might be attacking his pet. His brave actions saved both his dogs.

http://news.google.ca/news/url?sr=1&ct2=...t=1&at=dt0

Sadly the cougar was killed later. I wish they would have relocated it. The cougar just wanted to eat like everyone else.

This should be a lesson for people with pets in areas with wildlife. It is not safe to let your pets go free at night. It might seem like a fine idea to let the dogs sniff around the woods, but there are predators out there. It could have been a wolf or a coyote and that might have been worse. Better to keep pets close when in a danger area. The man was from a different part of Alberta that is not as wild. I am glad the dogs were okay.

[Tobi]

Well....he did what he had to do and saved his dogs. Good man. Beautiful dogs. I am glad they were saved. It was lucky the vet was really close by.
This was a parking area wasn't it? By a Tim Horton's coffee house? That is I would guess, quite a busy place! Or at least a place where humans/cars frequented regularly. Not a backwoods scenario where people and dogs put themselves in "Cougar territory".
Yes it is a shame that the Cougar had to be euthanised (shot?) Darting it and re-locating it would have been kinder. But it was obvious the Cougar couldn't remain in the area. Soon it would have become a danger to someone else, or other animals.

[Catherine]

Some Tim Hortons locations are pretty remote. There was a parking lot, but I understand there were trees and forest right beyond the edge of the parking area. The man was from Red Deer, a fairly tame area in the prairies. He was visiting somewhere up in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. There are wolves and coyotes there. There can be black bears. And we know there are sometimes cougars. At night you have to be careful and watch for predators. I wouldn't walk out there alone. These are all wild animals.

I just wish they could have relocated the cougar. There are thousands of miles of wilderness. Surely they could have found a place where the cat would be safe.

We haven't lost the mind set that kills anything that threatens us. The cat was just hunting and had a right to be there.

[Tobi]

I see Catherine. It was in fact, quite a remote setting with forest all around. I guess it's fair enough then, that a Cougar was hanging about there.
You'd think the dogs would be safe out for just a couple of minutes while the car parked (was that what happened?)
But it doesn't sound like a place I would want my dogs just running free.

[Catherine]

There are some pretty remote areas even in small towns. At night when a parking lot is near the woods it is not safe to let a dog out like that.

Even in Toronto, because of our ravines, there can be coyotes right in the city. If your house backs on a ravine it is not safe to let a dog out. Every year some pets are lost because of coyotes.

Canada is a big country with a lot of wilderness/ wild areas. It makes it dangerous for small dogs and cats.
This time it is the cougar that died, but sometimes the dogs are no so lucky.

[Tobi]

Yes it could be very dangerous for dogs. We are lucky here, there are very few threats to dogs, and most cats.
We have wild boar in some areas...now they can be dangerous for dogs. A fox or a Badger can cause some damage especially if they were threatened by a dog. A fox can attack a cat. Little pups or kittens can be taken by Buzzards...

But those things are quite rare, considering. There are more threats where Bears, Wolves, Coyotes, Mountain Lions and Cougars live!

That helps me to understand why there are so many totally 'indoor cats' in the US and Canada. Until I realised what threats there are about for pets, I could never quite understand that.

[Catherine]

Pets here are in danger from so many things. Even our city raccoons will attack a cat.
Then there is the weather. I can be extremely hot or extremely cold. This is not a safe place for a small animal to run free.

[Libby]

Thats crazy. Kinda like the guy that punched the kangaroo. If my pet is in trouble I switch into mother bear mode and the adrenaline rushes in. It is a shame the couger was killed but even if relocated it could find its way back and cause more trouble. I hate it when any animal has to die like that though.
Ive been watching animal documentaries on Netflix recently. One of them about Coywolves and something similar happens in that one. Its sad but unfortunately it a situation we've created as a species.

[Catherine]

The Coywolves are something we have created by driving animals from their natural environments. I don't think the two species would have crossed paths otherwise. They have no fear of humans. Every year people let their pets out at night and they don't return. They warn them about Coywolves and regular coyotes, but it doesn't seem to help.

I still wish they had tried to relocate the cougar. They didn't give it a chance. All it was doing was hunting and someone offered it what it saw as food. It didn't attack a human and it was in the bush and the dog went to it. If the guy had kept his dog with him the incident wouldn't have happened.