'Thought he was a goner': Terrifying moment mountain lion drags dog by its neck out of Sonoma County home
SANTA ROSA, CALIFORNIA: A woman posted a terrifying video on Facebook on December 5 showing her border collie being dragged by a mountain lion. On November 28, Rebecca Kracker was playing with two of her other dogs in another room while leaving the sliding glass door to her house open when she suddenly heard her dog Sherman yell and growl.
Kracker wrote in the Facebook post that she reacted swiftly, believing that her cat had fallen and been injured, but she soon discovered "the sad truth of the matter." The woman observed the mountain lion pull Sherman just outside the house, where he lay still on the ground in the backyard, and noticed that her dog was acting strangely, "like he was convulsing."
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As reported by Daily Mail, Kracker claimed that when she realized she was within a few feet of the dangerous animal, she hurriedly closed her door in an effort to keep the lion from entering again. Kracker claimed in her post that after alerting her neighbors, she started filming the mountain lion at the advice of her relatives.
"That's my dog, just laying on the ground. It was just pulled out of the house by that f**king mountain lion," she says in the video. The mountain lion seems to be watching Kracker as she records, not even turning its head to look at the puppy that is lying at its feet. While she is recording, Kracker's other dogs can be heard barking, and the mountain lion appears to be reacting to the sound by jerking its head.
A concerned neighbor eventually went to the house and shot the mountain lion. The large cat fled as a result, even though the shot missed its target. Kracker and her neighbor were left 'stunned' when Sherman, who had also been startled by the loud boom, leaped to his feet.
Kracker said, "Miraculously he was not wounded except for a small wound on his lip. He was shocky and barely responsive for several hours, but every time I checked on him, he would wag his tail to let me know he was okay." According to a neighbor who talked to KRON, Kracker "thought it [Sherman] was a goner for sure."
Animal control officers responded to Kracker's call and informed her that nothing could be done because the animal was no longer actively harming or attempting to harm her dog. Kracker had already brought her other animals inside after a buck died a few days before this incident. She had hoped that relocating the animals to her larger barn would deter any potentially harmful predators. "I never thought the mountain lion would be bold enough to enter my home to take my 70 lb border collie, "Kracker said.
The lion came back to the property a day after the incident with Sherman and killed two of the Krackers' goats. Wildlife authorities responded after the goats were murdered and put the mountain lion down after it was tagged by neighborhood officials.
The Audubon Canyon Ranch, an environmental organization that was "tracking" the animal, said that the mountain lion was P1, a 16-year-old female cougar. P1 was "unusually old," according to organization officials, and "exhibited behaviors uncommon for mountain lions."
Living with Lions' investigator Dr Quinton Martins said in a statement, "Clearly, something was wrong with P1. She was very old for a mountain lion which may have led to issues related to aging including tooth wear, slowed responses, weakened senses, and possibly other health issues. In recent weeks, she was more willing to put herself near human activity with people having frequent sightings of her, as well as feeding almost exclusively on livestock, all of which is very unusual behavior."
"That could have easily have been a kid," a neighbor told KRON. "The local activist organization knew this cat had erratic behavior problems for a while. I'm a local rancher. The public needs the whole story."