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The owners of a dog in Arizona have described the miraculous escape of their pet after it was attacked by a mountain lion and dragged away in its jaws.
Dog owners Steve and Tammy Miller were out walking with their dog Karley in Oak Creek Canyon on January 19 when a mountain lion attacked.
The couple, from Cottonwood, Arizona, told Fox 10 Phoenix that Karley was dragged away by the mountain lion after her lead broke, leaving them unattached and unable to help their pet.
"I seen my dog in this thing's mouth. Tongue out, it was limp. Most horrifying thing I've ever seen," Steve told the broadcaster.
After watching the mountain lion drag their dog away, the couple said they searched for Karley to no avail. "We screamed at the cat. We screamed for our dog to fight. Seeing as we did, what chance did she have?" Tammy told Fox 10 Phoenix.
Amy Burnett, from the Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD,) said that mountain lions rarely attack humans or domestic animals, suggesting that the incident was an anomaly.
After the attack on Karley, Tammy and Steve eventually returned home, devastated by day's events. But later that night, the couple received a call from a park ranger about Karley.
Someone had found her, alive, frightened but not seriously hurt. She was later reunited with her owners. "We love our dog. Nothing but a blessing," Steve told Fox 10 Phoenix.
Mountain lions are not considered to be threatened or endangered in Arizona, with numbers currently increasing in the state. "In Arizona, mountain lions are expanding into regions where they were once rare, supporting the fact that in this state mountain lions are following the continental pattern of expanding," AZGFD said on its website.
The importance of mountain lions to North American ecosystems was highlighted in a study published January 18. The report examined much existing data on how mountain lions, also known as pumas, interact with other species in the Western Hemisphere, and found that the animals act as key ecological "brokers" between various plant and animal species.
They are thought to interact with a greater number of species than any other carnivore in the world.
