A Metro Vancouver family is on edge after their new puppy was viciously attacked by a cougar Tuesday night.
The Sadler family’s nine-month-old Labrador, Daisy, was in the back yard of their Belcarra home when the wildcat struck.
Sixteen-year-old Levy told CTV News he was playing piano in his bedroom when he heard the dog barking and shrieking.
“I heard blood-curdling sounds,” he said. “I look out my window and there’s this huge cougar.”
Without thinking, Levy jumped out his window and started screaming at the animal. It ran out of sight, but returned as the teenager was comforting his pet.
“I turned to the left of me and it was five or six feet away,” he said. “It jumped and the claw of it just barely missed my ear.”
When Levy’s dad Jason saw what was going on, he yelled for his son to get back in his room.
The boy scrambled back inside, and said the cougar, which he estimated to weigh about 250 pounds, glared at him one more time through his window before taking off.
Cougars are one of nature’s most powerful predators, but sightings in Metro Vancouver are rare. Conservation officers believe Wednesday night’s attack was not predatory, but defensive.
“This cougar could have killed the dog if it wanted to, but instead it was more of a confrontation between the two of them,’ said officer Cody Ambrose.
The puppy suffered dozens of puncture wounds that required more than 100 stitches, but was already recovering at home on Wednesday.
Levy said he doesn’t care how close he came to being hurt also, he’s just relieved Daisy survived.
With a report from CTV British Columbia’s Jina You
