The owner was not home and Zittnick did not have permission to be in the house, police said.
Zittnick did not have permission to be there. He probably didn't have permission to handle the cat unescorted even when invited to the home. He likely doesn't have ANY relevant training or experience.
Try this as an alternate title: "Idiot teenagers break into private zoo cage, get mauled by mountain lion."
(although I'm with ladyfox7oaks in asking what the hell the cougar was doing in the back of an apartment in the first place. Calling it a private zoo is being EXTREMELY generous, but even if it was a public zoo, breaking into a predatory animals holding pen is considered Darwinian in the extreme. Waltzing into a wild animals den in the wilderness, unarmed, with the intent to poke it with a stick and show it to your friends, is only more suicidal because it's further from the hospital)
I am reminded of a gentleman I met back when I was selling insurance. This is in the outskirts of a small town.
He found a wounded timber wolf pup when hunting in Yukon many years back, and decided to keep it as a pet. When I arrived, he had to lock it in the yard because it wouldn't tolerate anybody other than it's owner being in the house. He had a lot of stories in which people broke into his property and ended up in the hospital. The one that really opened my eyes was the wolf clawing it's way through an exterior wooden door to get at the dumb bugger on the other side.
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(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-18 08:34 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-18 11:07 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-18 11:35 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-18 08:51 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-18 08:59 pm (UTC)Also, what up with the article saying 70 pounds but the video saying 110?
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-18 09:11 pm (UTC)The owner was not home and Zittnick did not have permission to be in the house, police said.
Zittnick did not have permission to be there. He probably didn't have permission to handle the cat unescorted even when invited to the home. He likely doesn't have ANY relevant training or experience.
Try this as an alternate title: "Idiot teenagers break into private zoo cage, get mauled by mountain lion."
(although I'm with
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-18 09:51 pm (UTC)Given how big cougars are, the "70 pounds" is probably 70 KILOGRAMS, and the reporter is a moron.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-18 11:06 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-18 11:07 pm (UTC)Poor kitty!! :(
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-19 05:08 pm (UTC)He found a wounded timber wolf pup when hunting in Yukon many years back, and decided to keep it as a pet. When I arrived, he had to lock it in the yard because it wouldn't tolerate anybody other than it's owner being in the house. He had a lot of stories in which people broke into his property and ended up in the hospital. The one that really opened my eyes was the wolf clawing it's way through an exterior wooden door to get at the dumb bugger on the other side.