A mountain lion was shot and killed in Downieville, California, last week by two residents who came to their neighbor’s aid. The cougar had a pet dog in its mouth when it was killed, California Department of Fish and Wildlife spokesperson Peter Tira told SF Gate of the incident, which took place on Jan. 13 in the small northern California town. The dog did not survive the attack.
CDFW was still investigating the incident as of Jan. 17, and the agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday. According to a basic summary of events reported in the Mountain Messenger, the Downieville resident was letting her two dogs out around 3 a.m. on Jan. 13 when she saw a pair of eyes on the hillside and tried to call the dogs back. One of the dogs failed to return, so the homeowner called her husband, who was out of town. The husband then notified a neighbor, who brought over a shotgun loaded with buckshot.
The neighbor reportedly fired a warning shot first. When the cougar took off running with the dog still in its mouth, the neighbor fired again, dropping the lion but not killing it.
“At the same time,” the Mountain Messenger reports, “a family friend, who was also called just after the neighbor, arrived on the scene with a hunting rifle. Seeing the mountain lion injured but not yet dead, he put it down with a shot to the head.”
The dog owner says she saw two cougars. And on the morning after the attack, the husband returned to where the lion had been killed and found another mountain lion feeding on the dead cat’s carcass. CDFW later confirmed with the local news outlet that there were actually three lions in the area — likely a mother and two juveniles — and that one of the juveniles had been shot, while the other had returned to feed on its sibling.
Although CDFW is overseeing the investigation, the Sierra County Sheriff’s Office warned residents last week to keep their pets indoors for the time being. The local Public Works Department had also temporarily closed a public park and playground located near the site of the attack.
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“I probably wouldn’t jog in that area right now, at least early morning and late evening,” Sierra County Sheriff Mike Fisher added in a statement shared with the Messenger.
Downieville residents are used to sharing the landscape with predators and other wildlife. It’s the same town where a woman was killed by a black bear in 2023, and it lies just 100 miles north of where two shed hunters were attacked (one of whom was killed) by a cougar in 2024. California is home to an estimated 3,200 to 4,500 mountain lions. The species receives special protections in the state, which hasn’t held a regulated mountain lion hunt since 1972.
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