mylo the brave

Hi there

2005-09-07T11:34:00.000-07:00

Hi-My name is Mylo. I'm a 3 year old Pug dog. So far I've had a pretty uneventful life. Until last Wednesday , that is. My owner and I were attacked by a cougar out in the front yard!

I was born in Montreal, but my original owner brought me to live in Victoria, BC, in Sept. 2002. Then my new owner, Lisa, adopted me in December 2002 and I came to live in Port Hardy. I like it here in Port Hardy, but little did I know that I would come face to face with a COUGAR and live to tell about it!

The Story of What Happened (Crime Scene Investigation)

2005-09-07T10:02:00.000-07:00

(Just to let you know the stats., I am a PUG, a Toy breed of dog, I am about 13" tall [to the top of my shoulder] and I weigh 20 lbs; my owner is 5'4" and weighs 120 lbs; the cougar was approx. 1 year old and weighed around 50 lbs.)

At 7pm (still daylight) on Wednesday August 31st 2005, my owner came home from work and when she was walking up the front pathway she noticed there were about a dozen crows on the power line outside the house, squawking and cawing and making all kinds of noise. She looked over her shoulder, thinking "What is their problem? Is there a nest around here or something?". (Earlier this summer there was a raccoon up in a tree in the yard going after a crow's nest and the crows made the same amount of noise.) The crows obviously knew that the cougar was lurking around.

She came in the house and put my leash on me, then we went out the front door to go out in the yard. We had only been going out as far as the yard for walks since we had heard a few days earlier about a cougar sighting on the previous Friday (the cougar had tried to attack a small dog through a chain link fence around the corner). The crows were still there on the power line, cawing and squawking away. We walked out onto the front porch and down the steps to this cement pathway, and we were just at the end of it, about 15 feet from the front steps:

when my owner felt something brush against her left leg (this was the one and only swat that the cougar took, scratching both of us). She turned around to see a cougar standing only 2-3 feet away on the grass! She thought it was a big dog at first, it was brown and shaggy like a dog, but then she looked at it's face and realized it was the cougar that we had been hearing about! But we never thought we would run into it in the front yard !

This is our view of where the cougar was standing:

The cougar was standing, we could see her whole right side, her head was lowered and she was stalking me, she just kind of looked at my owner as if she was in the way. She wanted me! The cougar was between us and house, so going back up the pathway was not a safe option. It would have meant walking right by the cougar. So then we just stood there, wondering what to do next. The authorities always say to make yourself look big, don't run away or turn your back on the animal. All of this was going through my owner's mind. She yelled "Dad! Dad!" to try to get her father's attention (he was inside the house, but he didn't hear). She thought about trying to get to one of the vehicles in the driveway, but they were probably locked, so it wasn't worth the risk. She thought we might try to make it to the basement door (further over to the right of the house), but it may or may not have been locked too. We slowly backed away from the animal, stepped down the two steps to the driveway, facing and watching the cougar the entire time.

This is the view of our eventual escape route, to the right along the inside of the boat shed wall (the cougar was still over on the grass to the left) :

We slowly walked sideways along the inside of the open boat shed (it just has studs, no walls, so it is open to the other side), my owner just pulled me along closely on my leash. The cougar was watching us and we were watching her the whole time through the side of the shed, and she started to slowly follow the path we had taken down the two steps to the driveway. We made it to this opening in the side of the shed and made a dash for the stairs, and ran up onto the porch and into the front door of the house:

The cougar must have followed us into the shed, and she went to settle and crouch down under a table that is directly behind where Mylo and snuck through the wall (maybe that's where she had been hiding right before she snuck up behind us?). From the bedroom window directly above, we could see the cougar's hind end sticking out from under this table:

This is where she was crouching, and she stayed there while all the RCMP arrived (I had called the local Port Hardy RCMP detachment and they had contacted Conservation and dispatched officers to the scene). The RCMP officers stayed out on the street until the Conservation Officer arrived. That's when the cougar finally came out from under the table, when the CO started to approach from the street with his firearm. She just sat down right beside the table where she had been hiding, we got a really good look at her (she looked right us, we were watching from the porch), she was a beautiful cat. The CO then shot the cougar with a shotgun, hitting her above her right shoulder. She ran off, injured, into the back woods.

The CO called a hunter who had a cougar tracking dog and they started searching for the cougar. They searched until about 11:00pm, but it was raining and the dog lost the cougar's scent (thrown off by two domestic cat carcassess the cougar had in her den). They continued their search in the morning, and at about 10:30am they found the injured cougar under a log in the back woods and they put her down.

We felt sad for the cougar, even though she had tried to attack us. She was just hungry. But my owner and I feel very lucky to have gotten away with a few scratches. We will have a few scars (both visible and invisible) and a story to tell that not many people (or any Pugs!) have experienced.

My Injuries (WARNING: some graphic images)

2005-09-07T08:40:00.000-07:00

The cougar swatted at us with her paw, it scratched my owner once (small puncture wound) and I got 4 scratches:

On top of my ear:

Under my ear flap:

on my face (she just missed my eye by a few mm!):

and a small scratch at the top of my left leg:

Life is back to normal

2005-09-07T08:00:00.000-07:00

I love to sleep in, especially under the blankets where it's cozy and warm. I do snore, but it's not annoying or anything, my owner doesn't mind.

Me in bed this morning:

do I have to get up?

I like to eat (A LOT) so I am always hanging around whenever there is food nearby.

Me begging at the table:

me eyeing a piece of cheese (my FAVORITE food of all time):

YUM!

Some nice people where Lisa works gave her an azalea plant and they gave me some chewie rawhide bones, which I LOVE, it's a nice small size so I can get my mouth around it:

So all in all, things are ok, my wounds are healing and I actually walked around the whole house outside this morning with my owner! We were mapping our escape routes the whole way, but I figure the crows would warn us if there was a cougar lurking about.
I am still a bit jumpy and on edge, I growl a lot and bark when I hear strange noises, but I think I'll be ok in time.

Photo Re-enactment of The Cougar Attacking Mylo

2005-09-07T07:29:00.000-07:00

Ok, so it's not a very accurate depiction, but it's pretty cute nonethless.

more wildlife sightings

2005-09-06T21:35:00.000-07:00

We have a frog who has made it's home on the front porch! Lisa and I had an encounter with him a few weeks ago, he was in an open bag of potting soil. He came hopping out and i chased him a bit before Lisa grabbed me. He jumped off the porch onto the ground below. But he must have made his way back, because about a week after that we found him in between two plant pots out there. And since then, we have heard him croaking , usually at night or early in the morning. I growl when I hear him. Any strange noise makes me a bit wary. Check out this info on the little critter:

http://wlapwww.gov.bc.ca/wld/frogwatch/whoswho/factshts/pactree.htm

It's kind of nice to have a little harmless creature around. Better than the other, more threatening kinds of wildlife that are out and about! Just today Lisa was driving me to the vet to pick up some flea repellent, and we saw a nice big BLACK BEAR run across the road, he was heading down to the Quatse River trail. Another place I won't be walking ever again! I guess the fish are (or will be soon) in the river so the bears are starting to hang around there.

http://www3.bc.sympatico.ca/driftwood/hardy.htm#quatsehatch

Things I like to Do

2005-09-06T14:10:00.000-07:00

I like to play fetch up and down the stairs (inside). I stand or sit at the top of the stairs and wait for my owner to throw my toy down.

I get pretty impatient, I go down the stairs waiting and watching for the toy to go flying by:

I also love to chase crows. I watch them out the back windows and I run up and down the couch chasing them as they fly by. I also watch them from the window and I bark at them when they fly by or perch on the railing:

Comments about Cougars

2005-09-06T10:03:00.000-07:00

Some interesting comments about cougars, a few different view points, DEFINITELY "food for thought":

I think wildlife people and conservationists are in denial because they're still reacting to the era when these creatures were indiscriminately slaughtered. Then came enlightenment, when we learned to appreciate them for their beauty and intelligence, and now we've forgotten they kill prey for a living. It's time to restore a balance. A little common sense never hurts.

We're the ones encroaching on the lions' territory, It doesn't bother me that they're here. What bothers me is these people who bring up hors d'oeuvres [dogs] on a leash. (hee!!)

Living in the country I've found there are quite a few lion attacks that go un-reported. For example, somebody hunting deer in the mountains, that sees a cougar ready to attack them may kill the cougar, and be afraid to say anything in fear that a game warden will not believe them when they say it was self-defense.

Larrane Leach who had 2 encounters resulting in injuries approximately five years apart and had previously encountered one frightening her husky puppy for a total of three menacing situations said, "People ask me if I'm angry with these animals, and I'm not. Maybe the animals feel like they're being invaded. We have to respect this land and share it with the animals. The solution isn't to kill cougars, but to relocate them to more remote areas."

The fear and hatred that inspired early settlers to exterminate cougars wasn't entirely irrational. After all, cougars eat people, don't they?

Mary Jane Coder who managed to fight off a mountain lion that tried repeatedly to attack her young daughters did not believe the cat should be destroyed, saying, "he was doing what mountain lions do."

It seems folks up here in the Pacific Northwest have a love-hate relationship with our growing population of cougars. I found there were pretty much two extremes: "let's hunt all the wild critters out there" to "aren't the lions and tigers and bears cute?!" We are playing with fire by tolerating the human "sacrifices" that continue to occur so that we can all marvel at the predators surrounding us. Isn't it rather ridiculous that we must be armed and on constant alert to walk around our own homes?!

All states in the cougar's traditional Western ranges report sharp increases in mountain lion numbers. The rise is largely attributable to the combination of "Disneyesque," anthropomorphic depictions of animals in the entertainment media (e.g., The Lion King) and a modern pseudoscience masquerading as biology that preaches a live-and-let-live philosophy where the big predators are concerned. The general result has been the development of protectionist attitudes in the minds of most Americans -- especially those in urban areas. Mountain lions, wolves and bears have become the poster children of animal sentimentalists. Consequently, the ballot box regulates predator management these days.

The idea that cougars are timid, shy, retiring wilderness animals that flee at the first sign of man's presence is absolute nonsense. They just don't do that. They stick around.

As recently as 1960, hunters were paid a $50 bounty on the hide of a mountain lion. Now, they are considered a beautiful, powerful predator that plays an important role in the ecosystem.

Contrary to frequent reports, animals have no "instinctive" or "natural" fear of humans just because they are human. Among predators, hazard avoidance and prey recognition are learned behaviors. Through repeated nonthreatening exposure to humans, a lion learns that some of the prey in its new territory is bipedal. The belief that animals prey on humans only in desperation due to age, starvation or other incapacitation is a myth. Young, healthy animals account for the vast majority of lions involved in human attacks.

When I encountered a lion while elk hunting, it had no fear of me despite my yelling and trying to look big. Instead it charged me, and I was forced to shoot it. This experience still haunts me. I don't fault the lion, but the public NEEDS to know to watch their kids and themselves in lion and bear country. The Division of Wildlife is studying why deer herds are down in numbers in Colorado. One reason is that both lions and bears have increased lately, and bears prey on newborn deer and elk. So when I shot a lion, I just made more deer available for bears. I don't blame the Division of Wildfife, but until we can get the balance back, we will be among the hunted.

The fundamental question we face is: do other species of the animal kingdom deserve a place to live? Or, as our population grows and we encroach on their historical homes, do we simply eliminate them? Because, if public safety is the only consideration, elimination will be the final result. According to experts, only a decimation of the mountain lion population would result in increased public safety. Attacks will continue as long as people live and recreate in mountain lion habitat. Great naturalists have often referred to the mountain lion as a symbol of the wilderness. Let's ensure they don't become a symbol of the vanishing wilderness.

A common myth claims animals have a "natural fear" of people and will attack only with a special excuse— danger to their cubs, rabies, starvation. The idea that we arouse a universal fear implies we're fundamentally different from the rest of the animal kingdom— an arrogant assumption at best.

Everyone that I have talked to that has had an experience with a mountain lion indicates they have no fear of people at all. When they finally lose interest in the person, they just turn away and disappear. What I think is discerning is that cougars are appearing in groups lately. Usually a mother with kittens, sometimes large ones over 100 pounds. The game warden here tells me that the same sex kittens are staying together for an undetermined time. Not a situation I'd care to run into while fishing in a remote area

Whether cougars have really returned to Kansas fascinates people. It's the most common question I get when I give a wildlife presentation, whether the audience is professors or Cub Scouts. Big cats are sexy. It's an adrenaline rush to see a mountain lion.

The federal liberals and their animal-rights allies must be hating that a man defended his life with a knife against a cougar in August of 2002. They strictly forbid self-defense, especially with any kind of a weapon. They want us to be passive, non-violent, dead victims. Like someone said earlier in this forum, I hope they now don't pass some kind of moronic law that forbids the carrying of knives for self protection. It really wouldn't surprise me. They have made it next to impossible to carry a firearm for this purpose. When giving their gun control arguments, wasn't it they who said "if even one life can be saved" when it came to gun control then it will be worthwhile? Well, how about "if one life can be saved" by having a firearm? Lives are saved all the time by guns (like with the bear attack at Laird Hot springs), but this is kept hush-hush, as it is politically incorrect and against their pacifist, suicidal philosophy. Everyone has the right to defend themselves to the best of their ability, and those who would take this away from us are not good people.

In answer to the question, "Why do they always say 'Generally as a whole cougar attacks are fairly rare,' when they are actually quite common?" They say that because it's politically incorrect to suggest the noble, 'endangered' cougar actually likes to eat people. No doubt the environmentalists will wince and throw up their arms at that statement. I agree that certain conservation acts are needed...but make no mistake, we didn't crawl to the top of the food chain to lie down and be lunch for any hungry predator who takes a fancy to us. I take exception to the statement that humans are somehow "unnatural". We descended from the same original gene pool the cougars and bears and lions did. We survive because we have adapted well thanks to our larger brains. The cougar chose to attack another creature (the 61 year old man attacked 08/02/2002) and that creature was superior enough to kill the cougar. The same result may have happened if a cougar took on a black bear; but bleeding-hearts believe all of Nature's creatures live in perfect harmony, without evil man spoiling it! Darwinism at its best!

I don't blame the animal. It was just a natural reaction -- this is what cougars do. They see something that will provide a meal and go for it.

There was a time when treating a cougar attack like a mysterious anomaly made sense. For two decades after the bounty years, attacks were extraordinarily rare, and fatal attacks practically unheard of. In the 1950s, according to researcher Paul Beier, only five cougar attacks were reported in Canada and the U.S., none fatal. There simply weren't enough cougars encountering enough people enough times. That's no longer the situation. Yes, fatal attacks are rare, but not nearly as rare as they once were. Perhaps the highest tribute to Ms. Frost [killed by a cougar 01/02/2001] would be a serious community dialogue about the realities of life in mountain tourist towns, and the place of humans in the food chain.

This is my advice to Americans; Keep lions in healthy populations (not merely "viable", which is code for vastly underpopulated but hanging on), for the health of the land. Give up on the idea that we need to make wild country safe. Lands should not be managed so that artificially bred livestock can be safely left without human protection. Protection of livestock and pets rests with the owners, and whole wildlife populations should not be managed for their sole benefit. Explore the possibility that lion-baiting with dogs actually does make the lions more timid. Explore any similar possibility of altering lion interactions with humans. Base all of this on good, peer-reviewed science (not anecdotes). Get on with your lives, and find something more serious to worry about.

It amazes me that some people would willingly sacrifice the lives of fellow human beings to satisfy the vicarious pleasure of knowing that some big cats are alive and well. Here is another thing that amazes me. The National Park Service will permit you to go off into lion country, by yourself, but only if you place yourself at a distinct disadvantage to the predator. The truth is that environmentalists and their agents in the Park Service would much prefer to lose the life of a human than the life of one of these "noble" beasts. Another amazing thing: Why all the hand wringing when an aggressive puma meets its necessary demise. Such misplaced sympathy is the result of mushy thinking or perhaps not much thinking at all. So the treehuggers want to protect these animals against extinction? Fine. But let the humans have the opportunity to adequately protect themselves in the wild. Let the people arm themselves! Let the people protect themselves and their loved ones. After all, that is only what people do. Sensible ones anyway. This should arouse some spirited debate.

Bounty hunting of mountain lions began as early as the 1600's in North America. Early settlers feared the mountain lions, and believed that the lions had a negative effect on game populations. These predators were killed in astonishing numbers, with a disastrous effect on the ecosystem in some areas. In the early 1900's, a massive effort to wipe out mountain lions was launched in the Kaibab Plateau area of Arizona. The absence of mountain lions caused deer populations to explode, resulting in severe overgrazing of the plateau. Many of the deer then starved to death, and some of the land has not recovered to this day.

credit: Linda Lewis at http://www.cougarinfo.org/comments.htm

My Owner's Injury (WARNING: graphic image)

2005-09-06T08:20:00.000-07:00

She got a puncture wound on the outside of her left leg (about "Mylo" height!)