Chihuahua Outsmarts Cougar, Survives Attack

Sunday, July 1, 2001 - CANADA

PORT ALBERNI, BC — A chalupa-sized Chihuahua cleverly avoided becoming a late-night snack for a cougar in British Columbia last week.

"Frank" and "Bear", the two dogs of the Herberts family, were having a little fun chasing rabbits in the back yard on Sunday night around 9:30pm when a wild cougar intruded, snapped up Frank the Chihuahua and darted off into the bushes with its "kill".  Terry Herberts and her children say they heard the dog scream and arrived only in time to see the tiny dog's limp body being carried off into the woods in the big cat's mouth, reports the Alberni Valley Times.  The larger dog Bear fiercely gave chase, but he was unable to keep up with the spry predator.

So What exactly does one do in such a situation?  Why of course, one makes an appointment with the local cougar-hunter.

The cougar-hunter described to them how the species generally buries its prey and may return in two or three days.  He made plans to come out to the Herberts house on Tuesday with the necessary equipment (why does the movie Ghostbusters come to mind?).

Bear, however, would not wait, and he continued the search bright and early the next morning.

Sure enough, Bear's ears immediately pricked up, and he started whining.  The family began to call for Frank, and soon they too began to hear a faint reply.  Twenty minutes later they found the little dog, wounded but alive.  Although he was severely bruised with several internal injuries, remarkably there were no bite marks, nor any life-threatening lesions common to most cougar attacks.

"Cougar teeth usually leave pretty good holes that would snap something like a Chihuahua in half," comments Dr. Hugo Lambrechts, Frank's veterinarian.

Conservationist officer Ralph Escott agrees, saying, "They kill with the initial attack. Bite it, snap it, and incapacitate it. They consume part of it right away and bury it."

So how did Frank defy death?  No one but Frank (and perhaps his confidante Bear) may ever know, but it is believed that Frank "played dead", and the slightly-less-witted cougar fell for it and gave him a premature and incomplete burial.

Another theory is suggested by Officer Escott: "Of course in the case of a Chihuahua, there isn't much there to eat."

Maybe the cat, responding to some inexplicable, subliminal suggestion, decided to hit the Taco Bell instead.

"Viva gorditas (y Chihuahuas!)"
Photo: Taco Bell

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