Mountain Lion Attack....UPDATE
I'm sure folks will be holding a candlelight vigil mourning the death of the mountain lion also.......[:(!][:(!]
rider
UPDATE:
Here is more info from the shooter....Jeremy Kocar
Only stars and the glimmer from a 140-pound mountain lion's fierce gaze provided light in the midnight darkness of Boulder County's foothills for Jeremy Kocar to cock and aim his rifle.
Still, Kocar said his eyes adjusted "quick enough" when the cougar looked up from the puppy in its clutches.
"I took the shot, and that was the end of it," said Kocar, 31, who now finds himself facing possible criminal charges for shooting the adult male lion.
It's been three days since Kocar said he saved his family's Rottweiler-Labrador mix, Duke - and possibly his own life - by shooting the lion that attacked the 8-month-old puppy. But, Kocar said, it will be much longer before he's able to get over the moment he stared down the cat as it crouched in a "pouncing" position.
"That's one thing you don't ever want," Kocar said Monday while standing outside the trailer that he, his wife and their two children are living in near Nederland. "You don't want to come face-to-face with a lion."
Jeremy Kocar, a Wisconsin man temporarily living near Nederland, sits with 8-month-old Duke, who was mauled by a mountain lion near Kocar's trailer early Friday. Kocar shot and killed the cougar, and now may face criminal charges.
The Colorado Division of Wildlife confiscated the cougar that Kocar killed at approximately 1:30 a.m. Friday in a clearing east of Gross Reservoir. Wildlife officers are reviewing the shooting, and DOW spokeswoman Jennifer Churchill said her agency is "investigating what will happen to the person who shot the lion."
"We do have laws that allow people to protect their safety and their livestock," Churchill said. "But this is the tricky gray area of it being a dog."According to Colorado law, it's legal "to trap, kill or otherwise dispose of bears, mountain lions or dogs in situations when it is necessary to prevent them from inflicting death or injury to livestock or human life."
That's exactly what Kocar said he was doing when the lion tucked Duke under his belly, as if "it was protecting its kill," and turned its attention to Kocar.
"I'm from Wisconsin - and we take care of things there," Kocar said.
Close encounters
There have been numerous mountain lion sightings, attacks and encounters in Boulder County this year.
Here are some:
Past week: Numerous residents living in the Nederland area reported dogs being attacked or killed by a mountain lion.
Sept. 27: A Nederland couple's 60-pound Australian shepherd was killed by a mountain lion.
Sept. 12-13: Multiple people reported seeing a mountain lion wandering in the area of 13th Street and Columbine Avenue in Boulder.
Sept. 2: A mountain lion killed a 15-year-old miniature horse seven miles west on Magnolia Road.
Aug. 29: A family's 7-year-old yellow Labrador was attacked by a mountain lion in northwest Boulder.
May 24: Wildlife officers killed a mountain lion in northwest Boulder after a resident reported the cougar in his backyard.
May 13: A couple's 16-pound cat, Big Guy, was killed by a mountain lion outside their home in the 3100 block of 11th Street.
April 12: Wildlife officers tranquilized a mountain lion caught feasting on a deer in north Boulder, in the 500 block of Kalmia Avenue.
Kocar, his wife, Angela Kocar, 25, and their children - Alena, 4, and Jacob, 8 months - are living out of a trailer parked in a mountain clearing near Nederland while they work on a wildfire mitigation project for West Range Reclamation.
Until the attack, the Kocars said they had heard little about mountain lions, and every night they'd chain their two puppies - Duke and Taffy, a blue heeler - outside the trailer.
They won't do that anymore, Angela Kocar said.
She was the first person to hear - and then see - the lion's teeth around her dog's neck early Friday. As her husband slept, Angela Kocar said she heard a growl and a yelp that she thought was a raccoon.
She grabbed a flashlight, pulled on her shoes and ran out to break up the fight. What she saw, though, was far from a small-animal scrap.
"I came within 10 feet of the cat that was standing there with the dog in its mouth," she said. "I froze and dropped the flashlight."
Her husband, annoyed that the dog had woken him up, came out and picked up the light. Angela Kocar said she ran inside to be with her children and to watch from the trailer's window.
Jeremy Kocar said he confronted the lion, shouting and waving his arms in the air. The lion responded like something out of a "wildlife documentary," he said.
"He was thrashing the dog in its mouth," he said.
Angela Kocar added: "He was whipping the dog around trying to get it off the chain."
"He was not leaving here without the dog," she said. "And he wasn't afraid of us at all."
After her husband shot the lion, Angela Kocar drove five miles to where she could get reception on her cell phone and called 911. Jeremy Kocar stayed at the trailer and attended to the dog that he thought was dead.
He said he cautiously walked up to the motionless lion and lifted its paw off the puppy.
"I said, 'Come on, Duke,' but I thought he had snapped his spine," he said.
When the dog leapt to his feet, Jeremy Kocar said he was stunned.
"He jumped up, shook himself off, and his tail was waggin'," he said.
Duke has been treated for head-to-toe bruises and multiple slashes. He has 50 stitches, and Angela Kocar said, "The vet said he was damn lucky."
Since the shooting, the couple said about 20 neighbors have stopped by say "thank you," making the Kocars feel like "little celebrities." Numerous area residents said they suspect the slain lion is responsible for killing a man's pet miniature horse Sept. 2 and a couple's 60-pound Australian shepherd Sept. 27, and attacking several other pets in the neighborhood.
Division of Wildlife officers said lab tests on the lion might provide clues as to whether the animal can be linked to other attacks. Wildlife officers in September tried to capture and euthanize a mountain lion after it killed a miniature horse, but traps weren't successful in snagging the cat.
Angela Kocar said her neighbors "have been living in terror up here."
"So we've had nothing but gratitude," she said. "One woman brought Duke homemade dog treats and a turkey loaf."
Neighbor Scott Johnson, 46, said it's sad such a beautiful animal was killed.
"But I feel safe now," he said.
BOULDER, Colo. - Colorado wildlife officials Monday were considering whether a man will face charges in the shooting of a mountain lion that was attacking a puppy.
The shooting happened about 1:30 a.m. Friday in a home near Gross Reservoir west of Boulder, Colorado Division of Wildlife spokeswoman Jennifer Churchill said.
People inside the home heard the attack on one of three dogs that were chained outside the house, went outside, and started yelling at the adult mountain lion. That's when the lion headed toward the armed man, who shot the cat.
"We're investigating what will happen to the person who shot the lion," Churchill told the Daily Camera. "We do have laws that allow people to protect their safety and the their livestock. But this is the tricky gray area of it being a dog."
The puppy was expected to survive. Wildlife officials confiscated the mountain lion.
At least two other mountain lion attacks have been reported in the area, including the Sept. 2 death of a pet miniature horse in the Nederland area southwest of Boulder and the death of a 60-pound Australian shepherd in Nederland on Sept. 27.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,300499,00.html
rider
UPDATE:
Here is more info from the shooter....Jeremy Kocar
Only stars and the glimmer from a 140-pound mountain lion's fierce gaze provided light in the midnight darkness of Boulder County's foothills for Jeremy Kocar to cock and aim his rifle.
Still, Kocar said his eyes adjusted "quick enough" when the cougar looked up from the puppy in its clutches.
"I took the shot, and that was the end of it," said Kocar, 31, who now finds himself facing possible criminal charges for shooting the adult male lion.
It's been three days since Kocar said he saved his family's Rottweiler-Labrador mix, Duke - and possibly his own life - by shooting the lion that attacked the 8-month-old puppy. But, Kocar said, it will be much longer before he's able to get over the moment he stared down the cat as it crouched in a "pouncing" position.
"That's one thing you don't ever want," Kocar said Monday while standing outside the trailer that he, his wife and their two children are living in near Nederland. "You don't want to come face-to-face with a lion."
Jeremy Kocar, a Wisconsin man temporarily living near Nederland, sits with 8-month-old Duke, who was mauled by a mountain lion near Kocar's trailer early Friday. Kocar shot and killed the cougar, and now may face criminal charges.
The Colorado Division of Wildlife confiscated the cougar that Kocar killed at approximately 1:30 a.m. Friday in a clearing east of Gross Reservoir. Wildlife officers are reviewing the shooting, and DOW spokeswoman Jennifer Churchill said her agency is "investigating what will happen to the person who shot the lion."
"We do have laws that allow people to protect their safety and their livestock," Churchill said. "But this is the tricky gray area of it being a dog."According to Colorado law, it's legal "to trap, kill or otherwise dispose of bears, mountain lions or dogs in situations when it is necessary to prevent them from inflicting death or injury to livestock or human life."
That's exactly what Kocar said he was doing when the lion tucked Duke under his belly, as if "it was protecting its kill," and turned its attention to Kocar.
"I'm from Wisconsin - and we take care of things there," Kocar said.
Close encounters
There have been numerous mountain lion sightings, attacks and encounters in Boulder County this year.
Here are some:
Past week: Numerous residents living in the Nederland area reported dogs being attacked or killed by a mountain lion.
Sept. 27: A Nederland couple's 60-pound Australian shepherd was killed by a mountain lion.
Sept. 12-13: Multiple people reported seeing a mountain lion wandering in the area of 13th Street and Columbine Avenue in Boulder.
Sept. 2: A mountain lion killed a 15-year-old miniature horse seven miles west on Magnolia Road.
Aug. 29: A family's 7-year-old yellow Labrador was attacked by a mountain lion in northwest Boulder.
May 24: Wildlife officers killed a mountain lion in northwest Boulder after a resident reported the cougar in his backyard.
May 13: A couple's 16-pound cat, Big Guy, was killed by a mountain lion outside their home in the 3100 block of 11th Street.
April 12: Wildlife officers tranquilized a mountain lion caught feasting on a deer in north Boulder, in the 500 block of Kalmia Avenue.
Kocar, his wife, Angela Kocar, 25, and their children - Alena, 4, and Jacob, 8 months - are living out of a trailer parked in a mountain clearing near Nederland while they work on a wildfire mitigation project for West Range Reclamation.
Until the attack, the Kocars said they had heard little about mountain lions, and every night they'd chain their two puppies - Duke and Taffy, a blue heeler - outside the trailer.
They won't do that anymore, Angela Kocar said.
She was the first person to hear - and then see - the lion's teeth around her dog's neck early Friday. As her husband slept, Angela Kocar said she heard a growl and a yelp that she thought was a raccoon.
She grabbed a flashlight, pulled on her shoes and ran out to break up the fight. What she saw, though, was far from a small-animal scrap.
"I came within 10 feet of the cat that was standing there with the dog in its mouth," she said. "I froze and dropped the flashlight."
Her husband, annoyed that the dog had woken him up, came out and picked up the light. Angela Kocar said she ran inside to be with her children and to watch from the trailer's window.
Jeremy Kocar said he confronted the lion, shouting and waving his arms in the air. The lion responded like something out of a "wildlife documentary," he said.
"He was thrashing the dog in its mouth," he said.
Angela Kocar added: "He was whipping the dog around trying to get it off the chain."
"He was not leaving here without the dog," she said. "And he wasn't afraid of us at all."
After her husband shot the lion, Angela Kocar drove five miles to where she could get reception on her cell phone and called 911. Jeremy Kocar stayed at the trailer and attended to the dog that he thought was dead.
He said he cautiously walked up to the motionless lion and lifted its paw off the puppy.
"I said, 'Come on, Duke,' but I thought he had snapped his spine," he said.
When the dog leapt to his feet, Jeremy Kocar said he was stunned.
"He jumped up, shook himself off, and his tail was waggin'," he said.
Duke has been treated for head-to-toe bruises and multiple slashes. He has 50 stitches, and Angela Kocar said, "The vet said he was damn lucky."
Since the shooting, the couple said about 20 neighbors have stopped by say "thank you," making the Kocars feel like "little celebrities." Numerous area residents said they suspect the slain lion is responsible for killing a man's pet miniature horse Sept. 2 and a couple's 60-pound Australian shepherd Sept. 27, and attacking several other pets in the neighborhood.
Division of Wildlife officers said lab tests on the lion might provide clues as to whether the animal can be linked to other attacks. Wildlife officers in September tried to capture and euthanize a mountain lion after it killed a miniature horse, but traps weren't successful in snagging the cat.
Angela Kocar said her neighbors "have been living in terror up here."
"So we've had nothing but gratitude," she said. "One woman brought Duke homemade dog treats and a turkey loaf."
Neighbor Scott Johnson, 46, said it's sad such a beautiful animal was killed.
"But I feel safe now," he said.
BOULDER, Colo. - Colorado wildlife officials Monday were considering whether a man will face charges in the shooting of a mountain lion that was attacking a puppy.
The shooting happened about 1:30 a.m. Friday in a home near Gross Reservoir west of Boulder, Colorado Division of Wildlife spokeswoman Jennifer Churchill said.
People inside the home heard the attack on one of three dogs that were chained outside the house, went outside, and started yelling at the adult mountain lion. That's when the lion headed toward the armed man, who shot the cat.
"We're investigating what will happen to the person who shot the lion," Churchill told the Daily Camera. "We do have laws that allow people to protect their safety and the their livestock. But this is the tricky gray area of it being a dog."
The puppy was expected to survive. Wildlife officials confiscated the mountain lion.
At least two other mountain lion attacks have been reported in the area, including the Sept. 2 death of a pet miniature horse in the Nederland area southwest of Boulder and the death of a 60-pound Australian shepherd in Nederland on Sept. 27.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,300499,00.html
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quote:
"That's one thing you don't ever want," Kocar said Monday while standing outside the trailer . "You don't want to come face-to-face with a lion."
Okay, then why did he go outside ? He obviously went outside WITH his gun so he is admitting that the cougar was NOT a threat to his life until HE went outside to confront it. There was NO NEED to confront the cougar because at that point the only thing the cougar was doing was eating his pet. That is not a legal reason to shoot a cougar and its not an ethical reason either.
He broke the law and in the process put the lives of innocent people in danger. He sounds like a moron and its extremely difficult to shoot and hit an attacking cougar. If the cougar had tried to attack him most likely he would have shot and missed and hit a person sitting in their trailer or standing down range. He was extremely iresponsible.
The reason he was able to shoot the cougar was because the cougar was idle and not moving towards him in anyway.0 -
quote:Originally posted by BarkingDog
quote:
"That's one thing you don't ever want," Kocar said Monday while standing outside the trailer . "You don't want to come face-to-face with a lion."
Okay, then why did he go outside ? He obviously went outside WITH his gun so he is admitting that the cougar was NOT a threat to his life until HE went outside to confront it. There was NO NEED to confront the cougar because at that point the only thing the cougar was doing was eating his pet. That is not a legal reason to shoot a cougar and its not an ethical reason either. He broke the law and in the process put the lives of innocent people in danger. He sounds like a moron and its extremely difficult to shoot and hit an attacking cougar. If the cougar had tried to attack him most likely he would have shot and missed and hit a person sitting in their trailer or standing down range. He was extremely iresponsible.
The reason he was able to shoot the cougar was because the cougar was idle and not moving towards him in anyway.
If it were eating my dog, I think I'd kill it.0 -
well considering that game animals are considered to be property of the federal government by proxy of its people then if you killed the cougar you would be killing MY property...so I guess that means I could kill you ? 0 -
quote:Originally posted by BarkingDog
well considering that game animals are considered to be property of the federal government by proxy of its people then if you killed the cougar you would be killing MY property...so I guess that means I could kill you ?
Nice touch, BD. Added just that element of class and restraint this discussion was missing. Thank you.0 -
quote:Originally posted by BarkingDog
well considering that game animals are considered to be property of the federal government by proxy of its people then if you killed the cougar you would be killing MY property...so I guess that means I could kill you ?
That would also make them all of ours to dispose of as we see fit in this situation, now, wouldn't it.
I'm guessing you don't have a dog, huh?
Edited for spelling0 -
i have a dog. i have cats. i have had some eaten by coyotes and some by bobcats. its part of life. i wouldnt harm a predatory animals for trying to stay alive by eating one of my pets. i know pets arent humans, they are animals. animals eat animals. thats how they roll. 0 -
This person should LEARN the SSS rule! 0 -
why do people get worked up over media stunts like this. of course the guy isn't going to be charged for defending himself and his dog. they HAVE to do an investigation, it's called routine. was he arrested? was he cited for anything? no.
so no big deal, other than to say "job well done" [:)]0 -
I sort of live in the sticks, we have the 3S policy, SHOOT, SHOVEL, SHUTUP.
W.D.0 -
Dangerous animal... 4 legs or 2 legged ones, dont start any sh// and there wont be any sh// started. just like that wasp nest out back. i dont mess with them as long as they dont mess with me, 1 sting & there all dead. ???
You pull the trigger and it fires. Looking at it won't fire it. Smelling it won't fire it. Laughing at it won't fire it. Hating it won't fire it. Banning it won't fire it. Only pulling the trigger will fire it.0
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