Idaho woman thought she was breaking up dog fight, grabs mountain lion instead

A woman in Idaho was trying to break up a fight between her dog and another canine outside of her home, but as she pried apart the two animals, the woman quickly realized she was holding onto a mountain lion.

According to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG), the woman believed she was breaking up a dog fight when she yanked a 35-pound juvenile, male mountain lion off her pooch late last week.

The IDFG said Monday the unidentified woman managed to restrain both her dog and the mountain lion while she yelled for her husband, who was inside their home at the time of the attack, telling him to grab a gun.

READ MORE: Jogger kills mountain lion with bare hands after being attacked on Colorado trail

0:40 Colorado jogger strangles mountain lion after attack

The man quickly responded and shot the wild animal as his wife held on to it.

“The couple immediately called the local authorities, and a Fish and Game officer arrived within 30 minutes of the incident,” IDFG said in a statement. “The responding officer retrieved the mountain lion carcass for testing at the Wildlife Health and Forensic Laboratory to determine if disease may have played a part in the lion’s behaviour.”

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Both the dog and the woman sustained some scratches during the incident, but the injuries are not serious in nature.

The agency noted it was the third incident in January of a mountain lion attacking a dog. The other incidents resulted in the dog dying from the attack.

The incident in Idaho comes the same week a man jogging on a trail in Colorado was attacked by a juvenile mountain lion. The lion attacked the runner from behind, biting the man in the face and wrist.

READ MORE: Mountain lion enters Colorado home, kills housecat, takes over an hour to leave

The man somehow managed to break free from the large animal and kill the mountain lion by suffocating it.

According to wildlife officials, mountain lion attacks on humans are extremely rare. There have only been 20 fatalities in North America in more than 100 years and since 1990, three fatalities in the state of Colorado.

The IDFG said there hasn’t been a recorded incident of a mountain lion killing a person in the state.