http://bigcountryhomepage.com/fulltext/?nxd_id=304586

Neighbors in one Central Texas community told fear for their children's safety after a suspected mountain lion nearly killed a 70 pound dog.

The attack happened in Hays County in the Fieldstone Neighborhood. Eldon, a boxer, had deep gashes covering his body. It took more than 100 stitches to close the deep wounds. Now, neighbors are determined to find what animal did this to him and kill it.

Early Saturday morning, somewhere on a sprawling five and a half acre property, an animal attacked a nine-year-old boxer.

“It was just this big V gash and it was so deep, it was into his back muscle,” Justine Smith who owns Eldon said. “I wouldn’t know what to do without him.”

She rushed Eldon to her vet, who told her a mountain lion may have been behind the serious attack.

“She felt the injuries were consistent with something that had lifted him and shaken him,” Smith explained.

With a 10 and six-year-old at home, Smith said she’s worried about her children getting hurt, or worse.

“I want my family to be safe,” she told us.

Cue Jason Carter. He’s a professional hunter with more than 100 trophies proudly mounted throughout his home in a nearby subdivision.

“This is where the dog attack happened,” he said while pointing at a map on his computer. “And this is where I tracked that cat.”

Carter said he’s certain a mountain lion attacked Eldon because he’s been tracking one for months. He hopes to add a mountain lion to his extensive collection as soon as possible.

“To protect my son, I’ll kill it,” Carter said.

And that’s just fine with Smith, who just wants to feel safe at her own home again.

Texas Parks and Wildlife is looking into the attack. The game warden told us it’s certainly possible a mountain lion attacked Eldon. But says bobcat attacks are more common in that area.

A bobcat on a 70 lbs. Boxer not likely!

I have a 75lb boxer and I'm afraid my nieghbors 5lb house cat will kill him..lol..If anyone has boxers then they know that they are all looks and no attack..A bobcat will have no problem taking care of a boxer!

Cats are crazy, man. Even house cats can whoop up on dogs.

Yep, boxers are lovers not fighters.

Your talking about a DOMESTIC animal against a WILD animal whose only thought is survival. It amazes me how much people underestimate the strength of wid animals.

I've seen a bobcat in full pursuit of a deer that weighed way more 70 lbs. Obviously he thought he could handle it. Didn't get to see the end of the race, but I bet it was spectacular.

Dang city people need to move back to the city if they don't like the wildlife.

I live in Hays Co and we do have some mountain lions. It's definitely possible. Most are known to exist in the far west side of the county and in the canyons off of the Blanco River, between Wimberley and San Marcos.

I've investigated several attacks on livestock and TPWD has documented several cats in the county. That said there are way more bobcats and "yotes all over the county.

Wild or domestic,animals have no sense of size. They all think they are the same size when they come across each other. This is why my 5 lbs. dog can make my buddy's pit bull whine and run off when she gets after him. It's the funniest damn thing you have ever seen.

I have seen the results more than once of hounds ( 50 to 75 lbs) catching a bobcat. 1 died and two took a long time to recover.

I have a couple of boxers that say otherwise.

i would lean more towards coyotes.

I agree that the bobcat would win, however i don't see it attacking another predator(the dog) twice its size.

But 'yotes dang sure would and certainly could have inflicted those wounds.

The moron in the original article that claims to be a professional hunter is full of it. He claims that he tracked the cat. Folks, those hills in that area are nothing but caliche and rock. It ain't rained here in more than a month. The ground is hard and dry. He didn't track anything anywhere in those hills.

Where in Hays County is the Fieldstone Neighborhood?

"Early Saturday morning, somewhere on a sprawling five and a half acre property, an animal attacked a nine-year-old boxer."


This sentence right here tells me that the reporter has a flare for the dramatic. He/She acts like 5 1/2 acres is the King Ranch. Might mean that the dog weighed 50 pounds and it might have take 50 stitches rather than 100 and it might have been a bobcat rather than a mountain lion. Just saying.....

I agree with landpirate, don't believe the part about him tracking the lion over the neighborhood. Not saying there could not be a lion in the area but why would one go into a subdivision unless it was raised as a pet?
There are an awful lot of deer in that part of the world or were when I attended SWT back in the early '70s.
Adios,
Gary

My boxer is half german shepherd. So he's got a little bite to him!

Near Dripping Springs/ NW Hays Co.

I thought your German Shepherd was half Boxer.

I'm guessing it was either a Texas black panther attack or a Mexican Chupacabra. Either could tear up a 70 pound dog.

Can't help but agreeing with you on the tracking. Ground around here is way too rocky and hard to leave any tracks even for a highly experienced tracker. My first thought that it was a bobcat that attacked the dog. A bobcat is more then capable of taking down an animal twice its size or even larger. Bobcats do take down deer which can outweight them by 70 to 100 pounds. A pet boxer has no chance against a pissed of bobcat. That cat may have just wandered around the neighborhood looking for an easy meal and felt threatened by the boxer (not trying to eat him)and attacked. Maybe the dog made the first move. Who knows. Those cats, bobs and cougars, are all over this country and they are here to stay. After all , it is humans who invaded their backyards not the other way around.

Mine is a half lab named Goliath. He is 10 years old and still rock solid. Coyotes want nothing to do with him. They dug up my labs grave a couple of weeks ago with him raising a hell of a ruckus just on the other side of a 4' wire fence. If they had wanted to tangle with him they would have.