Mountain lion attacks dog, putting a California town on alert, police say

Woodside residents are on alert after a dog’s owners said their pet was attacked by a mountain lion, California officials said.

The San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office said the owners were home on Wednesday night when they heard a noise in their yard, SFGate reported.

“When they looked out the window, they saw a mountain lion had the dog by the neck,” the sheriff’s office said, according to the publication. Police said that one of the owners managed to scare the mountain lion off by driving onto the lawn with her car.

The sheriff’s office said the mountain lion couldn’t be found when officers responded to the incident in the outskirts of Woodland around 10 p.m., KRON4 reported.

Police wrote on Twitter on Thursday the dog is expected to recover and no one else was injured. The sheriff’s office is also working with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife regarding the mountain lion attack.

Phil Gregory, who lives near where the incident took place, told KTVU that wild animals are to be expected in the town.

“This is a rural area, it’s not like a mountain lion is appearing in the middle of downtown San Francisco,” Gregory said. “The whole point of living around here is to be rural, around nature, and nature includes mountain lions.”

Woodside is between San Francisco and San Jose, near a state park and several nature preserves.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife estimates that between 4,000 and 6,000 mountain lions live in the state.

This story was originally published March 18, 2021 at 2:58 PM with the headline "Mountain lion attacks dog, putting a California town on alert, police say."