WARNING: This story contains some graphic video of an injured animal. Discretion is advised.
PENROSE – An 11-year-old dog named Levi is now recovering after a brutal attack from two mountain lions.
His owner, Linda Schmidt, told News 5 that he was badly injured by the wild animals after they jumped into his kennel. She has a warning for everyone now – to be cautious about your pets, livestock, and kids.
“It terrified me.”
It’s something Schmidt never thought she’d see in the flatlands of Penrose. On Monday around 2 a.m. she awoke to some strange noises outside her home.
“My little other Aussie woke me up. She sleeps under my bedroom window and she was going crazy, and I looked out the window to see what was going on…I saw two mountain lions in the front field.”
Thankfully, after turning on the porch light and screaming at them they took off, but they left behind some serious damage to Levi.
“I noticed he had been torn up pretty badly by the mountain lions…he had two real good size gashes on his shoulder. He had several puncture wounds.”
After speaking with the Department of Wildlife Schmidt was told the animals were two juvenile mountain lions, too young yet to know how to hunt.
“Probably a crime of opportunity. They saw him in the dog pen, jumped in, grabbed him, drug him out and luckily did not kill him.”
If they’d been adults Schmidt says Levi would be dead.
From now on she plans to put all her pets in the barn at night and will be installing outside lighting around her home, something Colorado Parks & Wildlife recommends.
