Teen girl and her Great Pyrenees fend off mountain lion attack, Nevada officials say
A cougar attacked a teen girl and her dog in suburban Reno, Nevada, wildlife officials told news outlets.
The 14-year-old was walking with her Great Pyrenees in the Virginia Foothills neighborhood in far south Reno early in the morning on Nov. 10, when they tangled with the mountain lion, the state Department of Wildlife said in a Nov. 17 release, TV station KOLO reported.
Nestled in arid hills outside the city, human development is comparably sparse around the Virginia Foothills community.
On the rare occasions people and cougars encounter each other outside of nature, it’s often in suburbs like these, where the concrete meets the wild, where the city pushes into their territory.
The girl and her dog suffered scratches and scrapes during the struggle, but no major injuries, officials told KRNV.
Cougars very rarely attack people, and a person with a large and powerful dog by their side seems like it would be even less appealing. It’s not clear why the cougar targeted them, wildlife officials said.
Authorities later caught the mountain lion and it was euthanized, KTVN reported.
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