I received this from a friend of mine,...
A couple from Montana were out riding on the range, he with his rifle and she (fortunately) with her camera. Their dogs always followed them, and on this occasion a Mountain Lion decided he wanted to stalk the dogs (you'll see the dogs in the background watching). Very, very bad decision.
As the Mountain Lion got closer and was noticed by the couple, the man got off the mule with his rifle and decided to shoot in the air to scare away the lion, but before he could get off a shot, the lion decided he wanted a piece of those dogs and charged. With that, the mule took off and decided he wanted a piece of that lion. That's when all hell broke loose .... for the lion.
As the lion approached the dogs, the mule snatched him up by the tail and started whirling him around, banging its head on the ground with every pass. Then he dropped it, stomped on it and held it to the ground by the throat. The mule then got down on his knees and bit the thing all over a couple of dozen times to make sure it was dead, then whipped it into the air again, walked back over to the couple (who were in stunned silence) and stood there ready to continue the ride ... as if nothing had just happened.
Fortunately even though the hunter didn't get off a shot, his wife got off these four ...
dang, I've heard about this but never seen it, quite amazing
ReplyDeletehello again! this story amazes me. I know that people keep mules with their herds to protect them from predators, (critters) but i never would have thought a mule would challenge a big cat like that.
ReplyDeletethat little mule has the heart of a texas ranger.
I guess since the dogs were not courageous enough to protect the owners the mule took over. look at those hounds taking notes in the background!! thanks for sharing and thank you again for your excellent website, i cant get enough.
btw...Dolly the mustang mare, is in foal again to Spike, the tennessee walker. the filly, sunshine is smart as a whip and her basic working will begin in a couple of months. (horse trainer agenda is full, we had to arrange appointment)
we are trying to get dolly and sunshine used to being seperate, but its not going too good. Dolly dont want to ride anywhere over 100 yards away from her baby. she goes nuts. sunshine done forced her way out of the holding pen and got a few scratches, nothing bad, but learned that barricades will break, now we got a pony hard to contain when her mama is gone. have to tie her up in the barn, but she still has a hard time without mama. I guess seperation by a long distance may help, because as long as they can hear each other, the worse they act as time goes by. only have been able to seperate them for 5 hours at a time so far. Im cut all up on my arms from re doing barbed wire from the last time. oh, and two rope halters broken by pony. so this last week, we just took time off and let them be. Next week startin monday, we will try again on daily basis, please tell me sumthin to make this less stressful to these good horses and to me too. I dont like being mean and dont think whipping them like someone told me to do is the answer. Dolly respects the fences and boundrys, no problems with her getting out, but pony tends to go ballistic. thanks!. David
That is Barry the Mule and the Cougar was dead - killed by a bullet. The "True" story is at http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/mulelion.asp Artilce came out in Western Horseman in 2002? found the article at http://www.westernmulemagazine.com/image/webimage/MULE%20VS%20MOUNTAIN%20LION2.pdf So if you want the truth read the article is it fee.
ReplyDeleteYou can see from the first photograph that the Mountain Lion is very much alive as the Mule picks it up by the tail. The story at snopes proves precisely nothing.
ReplyDelete