Dog tackles mountain lion in backyard, California family says. ‘We were very terrified’

Mary Padres came face-to-face with a mountain lion Friday night in her California backyard.

“He was literally right here looking at me and I got freaked out and started screaming,” Padres told KTLA of the Oct. 29 encounter. “It was humongous. It was huge. It was very, very scary.”

That’s when Rocky, one of her two rescue dogs, came to her aid, she told the Los Angeles Times. The 30-pound, 7-year-old shepherd mix chased after the intruder.

When the family found Rocky a short time later, he had puncture wounds requiring 30 stitches, including one that went down to his skull, Padres told KCAL.

“We were very terrified that he wouldn’t come back,” Padres said, according to KTLA. “He owns up to his name for sure.”

Rocky is expected to recover, KCAL reported.

The family’s security cameras captured part of the encounter, showing Rocky chasing the mountain lion around a swimming pool before the cat fled up a hillside behind the home.

A mountain lion thought to be the same one that Padres saw was spotted near La Verne, a community east of downtown Los Angeles near the Angeles National Forest, on Tuesday, the Los Angeles Times reported.

“If a dog is aggressive toward a mountain lion, it is normal and expected behavior for the mountain lion to defend itself,” Rebecca Barboza, a California Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist, told the publication.

The agency suggests that pet owners bring their animals and food inside at night when mountain lions are known to be nearby, KTLA reported.

This story was originally published November 4, 2021 at 10:25 AM with the headline "Dog tackles mountain lion in backyard, California family says. ‘We were very terrified’."