A lady and her dog were taken care of for accidents Monday following they were being reportedly attacked by a mountain lion in rural Trinity County, officials explained.
Wildlife officers explained a lady was walking in a picnic spot in the vicinity of Big Bar, just off of Freeway 299, close to 3 p.m. with her Belgian Malinois walking marginally forward of her. Suddenly the girl was swiped from powering, reportedly by a mountain lion. The animal clawed the woman’s shoulder, tearing as a result of her jacket and puncturing her pores and skin, officials stated. She screamed and her pet dog “immediately returned and engaged the mountain lion” main to a “pretty vicious struggle,” reported Capt. Patrick Foy, a spokesperson for the California Section of Fish and Wildlife, which is investigating the attack.
He explained investigators imagine the girl and her doggy were attacked by a mountain lion but are using DNA samples from their wounds in hopes of figuring out the animal and tracking it down to lure it for far more assessments.
Through the attack, the canine appeared to be “on the shedding conclusion of the fight” with its head in the mountain lion’s mouth, Foy claimed, but the girl was identified to conserve her pet. She went following the cat with her bare arms, hitting it, pulling on it and even making an attempt to gouge its eyes out, but with no results, officials reported.
Determined for help, the girl, who Foy explained as “very modest and petite,” ran to the street and flagged down a passing car or truck. A woman pulled over, grabbed a PVC pipe and pepper spray from her motor vehicle, and the duo returned to the animal for another try to rescue the dog.
They sprayed the cat with the pepper spray but it had no influence. They strike it with the pipe until eventually it enable go of the canine. The owner drove her pet 90 miles to what she considered was the closest veterinary clinic, in Redding, and checked herself into a clinic in Redding as effectively, Foy mentioned.
The girl had some non-lifestyle-threatening scratches, bruises and chunk wounds, officers claimed. The dog’s condition was not promptly obvious. The canine was “not out of the woods still, but (the operator) is hoping it’ll be Okay,” Foy explained.
Foy reported that although the assault on Monday was “definitely unusual” — there is about 1 reported mountain lion attack in California just about every yr, he explained — there is no result in for concern.
“The odds of getting attacked by a mountain lion are really very low, and they remain particularly lower,” he claimed. “I wouldn’t essentially convey to any one to change their behavior when they are out recreating in the wild.”
If confronted by a mountain lion, Foy claimed, stand tall, shout aggressively, toss rocks or sticks at it and pick up any compact little ones or pets. A bulk of encounters do not stop in attacks, Foy mentioned.
If you are attacked, fight back again as hard as you can, Foy prompt.
Andy Picon (he/him) is a San Francisco Chronicle employees author. E mail: [email protected] Twitter: @andpicon