A video posted to YouTube the other day has gone viral, and it’s easy to see why. “Hungry Cougar vs brave dogs, Highlands, Victoria” is a nail-biter, with two dogs confronting a young cougar who has wandered into their yard in Canada. It has also ignited a firestorm of debate in the comments, with many questioning if the dog’s owner did enough to protect the dogs. Others say that any intervention could have made the situation worse.
See for yourself:
According to Global News, the encounter took place in the Highlands, a rural area northwest of Victoria. Khanh Vu was inside his house when he heard his dog barking outside.
“I stood up and I saw over the window, my dog chasing something,” said Vu.
He said he saw his dog, Kovu, and a friend’s dog, Teaka, chasing a cougar around his yard. He tried the call the dogs inside, but they ignored him.
“I called my dog in but they wouldn’t listen,” he said. “They tried to protect themselves and were occupied with chasing the cougar.”
Also, under the comments section on YouTube, a user named Chris Ross wrote: “The dogs were brought inside shortly after the video. It’s kind of hard to restrain the dogs when the cougar is 5 feet from the house. … To ease your mind I did go out and scare the cougar off our property. We put the dogs inside and got the cougar out of the tree.”
The YouTube comment section has become a hotbed of debate about whether the dog’s owner did enough to protect the dogs. Had Vu gone outside to bring his dogs in, who knows what might have happened. Also, some commenters have pointed out that cougars attack from behind — which might have been an issue had the dogs responded to Vu’s calls to come inside. Some said the dogs were acting perfectly, confusing the cougar and protecting themselves and the home. Others think Vu was callous in simply filming the incident.
As for Vu, he’s surprised the big cat came so close: “We never would imagine they would be about 10 feet from our main door, our entrance. That’s quite concerning to me, my family, and my children.”
Teaka’s owner, Brittany Kinahan, praised the action of her dogs.
“We are in their territory, so it would make sense to see them now and then,” she told Global News. “It feels a lot safer having the dogs around knowing that they could take care of themselves and us in the house if they need to.”
According to the Huffington Post, The encounter came just days after Victoria police issued a warning about big cat sightings in the area. Officers have been scouring the area and even notified daycares and other facilities to be on the watch. Last month, police also issued warning about a cougar sighting downtown.
Via Global News
