(KTLA) – A horrifying scene played out in a residential Los Angeles neighborhood where a mountain lion pounced on and killed a leashed dog.
The mountain lion was captured on security footage emerging from the bushes and onto a residential street in the Hollywood Hills. At the same time, a dog walker (who wished to remain anonymous) was walking through the area with two small dogs.
The mountain lion can be seen suddenly stopping and assuming a crouch position. Moments later, the mountain lion pounced on the smaller of the two dogs, a Chihuahua mix named Piper.
“I felt the tug and I heard Piper squeal,” the dog walker said. “I turn around and I just saw a face. I didn’t know what it was.”
“It was like a two- or three-second struggle,” he said. “He had Piper in his mouth. He didn’t growl at all. I didn’t even hear him. I never had a chance.”
Piper did not survive. The second dog was unharmed.
“My wife and I got Piper in 2014,” said Daniel Jimenez, Piper’s owner. “We rescued her and she was just the sweetest dog. We’re just devastated at the loss of our little dog.”
Jimenez was out celebrating his daughter’s birthday on the night Piper was killed. He recalled receiving a bizarre text from the dog walker that said, “The mountain lion attacked and took away your dog. Killed your dog."
"We thought it was a joke, but it turned out it was real and we were just shocked,” said Jimenez.
The mountain lion may have been P-22, an 11-year-old puma known to live around the hilly Los Angeles neighborhood where the attack happened. Local park services have not confirmed if the mountain lion was indeed P-22, but the animal was in P-22's territory and was seen with a collar on.
Jimenez doesn’t blame the mountain lion, saying it was only doing what wild animals naturally do: hunt for food.
“I don't want anything bad to happen to P-22,” said Jimenez. “I just want people to be safe out there so that nothing like this happens again.”
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