My friends' dogs regularly chase black bears away from their house (they live on the Sammamish Plateau, about an hour east of Seattle). The dogs are bigger than a cat but still smaller than the bears.
They did have a bit of a worry when one of the bears turned out to be a mama with cubs. Black bears aren't particularly aggressive...but if they've got babies all bets are off.
The victim is the bear. Silly humans leaving tasty stuff just lying around for any bear to take. In the human world, law enforcement would call this 'entrapment'. :p
When I was living in TX, we had a jaguarundi (a kind of smallish leopard) hanging out in our development. We knew when he was around because our housemates' 7-lb cat would go insane, rocketing around the house hissing and screaming, begging to be let outside to clobber the intruder ...who would look in the window at her, laughing.
My husband woke up at 3am and there was this...thing...staring into the window with an amused kitty smile. And he might have thought it was a very big domestic cat, but then he realized it was standing with all four feet on the ground, its head on level with a window 3 feet from the ground.
He screamed louder than the housemates' cat.
I saw it a few days later while I was carrying laundry between buildings...I yelped aloud, "WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?" and it simply stopped, looked me over, dismissed me as too big to eat or play with and too small and squishy to be dangerous, and sauntered off.
I know cats can chase off bears (if they're lucky and the bear isn't particularly dedicated to whatever idea it had), but that owner SUCKS for not at least opening the window and shouting / throwing things at the bear. If that was my cat out there, there's no way in *hell* I'd stand by and risk having the next 10 seconds of the tape be footage of my cat getting mauled.
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(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-18 05:21 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-18 05:23 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-18 05:29 pm (UTC)My friends' dogs regularly chase black bears away from their house (they live on the Sammamish Plateau, about an hour east of Seattle). The dogs are bigger than a cat but still smaller than the bears.
They did have a bit of a worry when one of the bears turned out to be a mama with cubs. Black bears aren't particularly aggressive...but if they've got babies all bets are off.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-18 05:34 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-18 08:43 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-19 12:48 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-19 06:59 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-19 02:24 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-19 06:58 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-18 05:53 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-18 06:57 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-18 07:58 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-18 11:17 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-19 02:16 am (UTC)He screamed louder than the housemates' cat.
I saw it a few days later while I was carrying laundry between buildings...I yelped aloud, "WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?" and it simply stopped, looked me over, dismissed me as too big to eat or play with and too small and squishy to be dangerous, and sauntered off.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-18 10:03 pm (UTC)