La Crescenta family says pet poodle killed by mountain lion

LA CRESCENTA, Calif. (KABC) -- It was a sad time for a family in La Crescenta after a woman said a mountain lion attacked and killed her dog.

Louise had been in the family since she was 8 weeks old. Michelle Duque Gottlieb said she found her beloved pet's body Tuesday night.

She said in her 20 years of living in the area, she's only encountered a random cougar sighting once before so she would always let Louise out for short periods of time.

"I was sad because I knew, you know? I knew that an animal or something had gotten her," Gottlieb said.

The attack happened despite 12 feet or more of wall and fence. In a phone interview, a California Fish and Wildlife expert said a mountain lion would have no trouble scaling that type of wall, but they are more afraid of humans.

Cougars prefer to eat deer. Cats and dogs are just a crime of opportunity more than anything else.

"I'm worried for little kids. It would have been scary for me to walk out, but I think we feel safe," she said.

The expert said cougar-human attacks are extremely rare, with only 16 attacks happening since 1986. They've only attacked humans in state parks or wildlife parks.

Despite that, Gottlieb said she will change her routine no matter what.

"Now before I'm going to walk out my door, I'm going to look out to see if there's anything out there because I honestly never thought that that would happen in my own yard," she said.

No one has ever recorded an attack of a mountain lion on a human in their own backyard, but the wildlife department said a good resource is keepmewild.com, which offers tips for those co-existing with Mother Nature.