According to KSLTV News, on July 19 in Cedar Hills, Utah, a Labrador retriever named Ella courageously fought off a mountain lion to protect its family. Despite sustaining severe injuries, the dog survived.
Ella, a 7-year-old yellow Lab, noticed the mountain lion while Crystal Michaelis and her children were playing in the backyard. Although Michaelis didn’t see the mountain lion, she noticed Ella behaving strangely, alternating her attention between the children and the area where the mountain lion was hiding.
Michaelis described how Ella kept darting her gaze between the children and the area where the mountain lion was hiding. “She kept looking back and forth so quickly that it seemed alarming to my child, even though she was just trying to be protective,” Michaelis said.
After bringing her children inside, Michaelis found Ella badly injured. Her head, face, legs, tongue, and neck were all deeply cut. “Ella was covered in blood when we opened the back door,” Michaelis recalled. “There was blood everywhere—on the door and the patio.”
Although the family didn’t witness the confrontation, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources officers found tracks from the mountain lion leading to the scene. Wildlife officials believe that the mountain lion might have been distracted by goats in a neighboring yard and ended up wandering too close to the Michaelis home.
