Colorado is known for its gorgeous mountains, its serene forests and breathtaking plateaus. It’s also home to Puma concolor, otherwise known as the mountain lion.
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Though the mountain lion is eclipsed in size by bears, it’s the cat’s agility and cunning senses that make it one of the more dangerous members of America’s wildlife to encounter.
And two Colorado residents were given an unwanted reminder of that. Sarah Moore and Lindsay Golden are residents of the great, mountainous state. They look after two dogs, Winston the Dachshund and Mijo the Chiweenie. Not exactly large dogs by any measure.
Winston and Mijo had the encounter of their lives when the front door was left open, and the two pooches ran outside.
There, they met the one cat who was no stray, nor one to be scared of a neighborhood dog.
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A young Mountain Lion had found Winston and Mijo. Though it may sound crazy, Mountain Lions and Bears frequently roam the woodlands and badlands of North America.
Colorado is prime Mountain Lion territory, and with many residential areas bordering the woodlands and mountains they call home, encounters like this aren’t too uncommon.
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Now Winston and Mijo were in for an encounter they never asked for.
Before anyone could realize what was happening, the Puma already had Mijo in its jaws. Though still a youngster, this cat was still several times the size of either dog.
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A Mountain lion can take on a deer and sheep on the regular. A pair of pint-sized pooches versus a 100 pound predatory cat is as one-sided as it gets.
Though Winston wasn’t going to back down from this cat. The cougar had his best friend in its jaws, and being outclassed in the weigh division didn’t matter to Winston.
The daredevil Dachshund stood up to the mountain lion, and let out as many growls, barks and snaps as a 24 pound wiener dog could muster.
A mountain lion might be the apex predator in these parts, but Winston definitely brought the bite to back up his bark.
In an unbelievable turn of events, Winston managed to chase off the mountain lion. Outweighed more than 5 to 1, Winston was an underdog in the most literal sense.
Yet the cougar yielded, and Mijo, though badly injured, was saved.
“A 20-pound dog with the courage of a 200-pound dog” – says Lindsay
Mijo was alive thanks to his best friend, but his injuries were no light bruises to just walk off.
Mijo had suffered scalp lacerations and a lost eye, just to name a few. His skull, however, had no signs of fractures from the attack. That’s the second miracle already.
It’ll take a long time for Mijo to fully recover from his injuries. He walked away with neurological damage, causing him to regularly have seizures and occasionally lose his sense of direction.
The doctors verified that he had significant brain damage, and medication was of utmost importance now.
Sarah took the steps to start a GoFundMe for Mijo’s medical needs. They’ve since gotten over $12,000 in donations from all over the world, most likely thanks to Winston’s heroic story making the rounds on the news and online.
If you take a look on the updates from Sarah’s GoFundMe page, it says that Mijo had gone a week with no seizures as of the 22nd of November, 2020.
Here’s hoping that it stays that way.
Winston’s incredible feat of bravery deserves the headlines it got. Below is where you can watch the moment it made the news. Don’t forget to share the article when you’re done watching!
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