Big Cat Attack

[ctxkiger]

Found this interesting so I thought I would post it. A dispatcher told me this information this morning.
Her neighbor had two Mares with Foals and both mares had to be put down yesterday. The owners found the two mares badly injured and called out the local vet. The vet stated that a Big Cat had attacked the two mares. There were signs of the cat leaving a five inch wide paw mark on the mares. Neither of the foals were injured and the thought is that the mares were protecting them from the cat.
The sightings of Cougars are becoming more and more common in this area. My Father and I have both seen them down on the Ranch near your area Michelle.

[fantasykiger]

My husband is working on a new housing developement clearing lots and my son scared a cougar out of her hiding. As if that is not scary enough the developement is going up just a few blocks from where the new grade school has been recently built.

[grullagirl]

Wow thats definately scary news considering my horse ruger is out at rancho bayo.Thankfully it seems the mustangs are able to defend themselves pretty well and with shooter the dog on the prawl hopefully there will be no sightings. Its definately scary to since foaling season has pretty much wrapped up for everybody the babys are still pretty young. Their is also the possibility that the cat was an exotic, we used to have a lady who let bobcat out at night and it would gut cats and deer she thought it was good for her cat to feed in the wild. I've actually seen some sort of exotic cat near construction like you mentioned fantasykiger, I think it was an exotic though since it was jet black. They are probably becoming more common since our area is growing so rapidly and construction is at an all time high.

[ctxkiger]

This occured just North of Temple. It's the second instance that I have heard of a big cat attacking a horse in that area.

[Michelle Clarke]

Thanks for posting that...we've seen them here - in the back of the ranch. There are still plenty of deer so we have not really worried too much; but it has always been the reason my mommas and babies are up in the barn at night and the reason I bought Shooter - our Pyrenese/Anatolian cross male. I am actually considering getting another one because this place is way too big for him to patrol by himself.

The coyotes are weaning right now and they are hungry. We have meat chickens in pens behind the house - never had an issue but early this morning I heard the yoties close by and Shooter running up from the barn barking but two were dead this morning; they could not get them all the way out of the pen.

The massive drought has killed all the plants and seeds the field mice eat; which means the coyotes don't have a lot of their main staple. Plus the cotton tails and even the jacks are slowly going down in numbers.

Pray for Tropical Storm Don to soak us slowly for a couple days...roundbales are up over $130 a piece (we do 15-20 a month plus 200 squares {and if you do the math on that one, I don't want to know at this point!!}.

[pepper]

We have lots of cougars here where I live.There's a llama ranch across the road from the pasture where my horses live that has lost several babies over the years.Also had a neighbor lose 2 geese out of their pen with huge paw prints left behind & a lot of feathers....
Last year a fawn was born in the pasture but disappeared after a week...sure the cougars got it.I mostly worry the horses will panic & run thru the fences when they are killing.Amigo is always on alert when they're around & herds Ali away standing guard.Don't think a cat would tackle him..1300 lbs of feisty mustang is pretty intimadating !Hope you get some rain down there in Texas Michelle,,,

[Michelle Clarke]

Thanks Pepper - we need it desperately!!

[lindad]

Just got 6 inches of rain in the last 2 nights, now I'm flooded. Everthing has been extreme this year, record highs, record rainfall, then no rain when we needed it for 2nd cutting, the longest winter, we didn't get spring until May. Temps in the 90's to 100 last 2 weeks and we get the high humidity to go with it. You roast we melt. UGH!

My daughter had a big cat that prowled around her house, for about 1-2 years. She was convinced it was a cougar which is unlikely. Bobcat much more likely. The call sent shivers down the spine. Her boyfriend would pull his service revolver to go from the truck to the house at night. The zonkeys and the Kiger mare would take turns guarding, usually in pairs, while the others ate.

[fantasykiger]

Several years back a friend of mine had a gelding attacked at night by a cougar. They found him with deep scratches on both sides of his hips it took 40 staples to close him up from the vet. The wildlife services were called and found where the attack took place. The horse was snoozing standing with his rump toward the fence line the cat snuck thru the brush and fence then must have leaped on the back of that horse, he of course kicked tossing the cat back into the barbed wire fence and the cat left, they found the hair of the cat in the fence. A few calves came missing that year and then no word about the cougar anymore and silence ever sense. I wouldn't put it past ranchers out here to shoot it, bury it out back and not say a word.

[Michelle Clarke]

The three S's...shoot, shovel and shut up.

[pepper]

Well..I agree if a wild thing (cat or bear or coyote etc) is killing your livestock it needs to go but I find I still feel a thrill & a privilige to live in a place with abundent wildlife.We moved into their home & mostly we co-exist quite well.Was riding last week & discovered huge bear tracks on the trail with dry scat and didn't pay much attention till we rounded a corner on the way home & found a big plie of very fresh bear scat right in the middle of the trail...hairs stood up on back of my neck so my friend & I started singing very loud,silly "don't eat me "bear songs which annoyed the horses but at least alerted the bear to our presence till we got off that ridge & away....all part of life in northern California...love it!

[Michelle Clarke]

You're funny Pepper! I sure don't mind the animals as long as they co-exist with all of us here well. We've never bothered the cats or other animals here - there is a balance in nature and getting rid of one thing will cause problems with something else. Unfortunately, there are times when they cross the line and have to be removed. But I don't think I could do bear country...that is one animal I am not crazy about!

[DianneC]

I'm with you on bears Michelle if they are grizzlies. I told my husband several years ago that I'm not tent camping in grizzly country any more. Here in the Cascades we have mainly black bear. Don't mind them so much. We had a cougar here a year ago. Don't like that for the horses at all! We're not in the country either, housing developments on three sides.

[mystickiger]

Coexisting with nature has also been a part of riding in west central PA. Black bear are bountiful and were often seen in my yard before I sold the farm last year. My Ara-App and my Kiger both were on alert but not overly frightful when they were around, which was often behind their fence line. I have known personally of three horses that were injured by bear but that is very unusual. Coyote and deer are plentiful; everyday trail riding occurrences. It took me years to realize that the markings high up on trees were not buck rubs, rather bear raspings. Dah, ignorance is bliss!

Big cats have been something that we've never had to deal with until this summer. Mountain lion were released about 75 miles north approx. 5 years ago by our PA Game Commission as a means of deer population control. This was a very controversial "hush hush" program that has now become adamantly denied by the same commission. Regardless, I was warned last week of 2 mountain lion sightings within the week on the trails I normally ride. Hoping Mystic or I never know find out if they are there! At this point I am not worried about them attacking horses in the pasture, too much small game to feed on. But you never know. BTW, medical cost or loss of life by bear are covered by the state due to the fact that black bear are protected by the state of PA.

Michelle, hoping you get some relief from the tropical storm. Like Linda said we have suffered greatly here too but more so with extreme heat, horrendous humidity and seldom torrential downpours with extreme lightning. Lost several appliances last night to a lightning hit but otherwise no damage.

[Michelle Clarke]

Gosh, weather has gone crazy lately! One extreme or another.

There have been a few sightings of black bear south and west of here, more by the Mexico border. Also some jaguar reports here and there - that's one cat I don't wish to see hanging out in my driveway! Eric laughs when I talk about this stuff...he says "and what are you going to do when we move to Costa Rica?"! Probably get five Shooter dogs (and a shih tzu dog I hear of that is terrorizing man and beast in Chicago... plus put spikes on my roof so the monkeys don't jump on me!