Mountain lion snags Declan the shih tzu 'feet away' from home's front door, Glendale woman says

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A Glendale nurse practitioner is warning area residents to be on alert for a mountain lion that attacked and dragged away her dog Monday evening just outside her home.Laura McVay, who works in palliative care at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, said the big cat snatched her brown 5½-year-old, pint-sized shih tzu named Declan around 11:30 p.m.mere “feet away from the door.”“My shih tzu was a bright light and just fun and funny and had a great personality and everyone loved and adored him,” McVay said.

“Losing a dog is always hard, but when it’s such a sweet soul like he was, it’s especially hard.”McVay said she had taken Declan out for his final restroom walk of the night when the attack occurred.The pair were walking back home when McVay said she felt a pull and a “whoosh” from behind.The cat’s jaws were around Declan.McVay initially yelled and tried to make herself bigger to startle away the predator.Those efforts weren’t enough, however.“It was so strong,” McVay said of the cougar.

“I’m pulling his leash and screaming and trying to do everything you’re told to do.”In the heat of the moment, McVay said she wasn’t sure if she let go or if the mountain lion ripped Declan out of the leash, but the cat pulled away its prey and scurried back into the nearby foothills.She said that, as her adrenaline was pumping, she didn’t fear for her personal safety, “though in retrospect, maybe I should have.” Climate & Environment California wildlife officials on Thursday voted to list six small, isolated mountain lion populations as threatened under the state Endangered Species Act.After the attack, “I kind of was in shock,” McVay said.“I called my best friend and she talked me down and tried to console me.”McVay said she went to bed in grief and unsure what action to take next.

She eventually filed an attack report with California’s Dep...