Mule Kills Mountain Lion

[MIKE USWFA]

This is something I got in an email from a friend of mine in Montana..I thought I would share it with everyone....Mike


This may be a first...


A couple from Montana were out riding on the range, he with his rifle and she (fortunately) with her camera. Their dogs always followed them, but on this occasion a Mountain Lion decided that he wanted to stalk the dogs (you'll see the dogs in the background watching). Very, very bad decision...

The hunter got off the mule with his rifle and decided to shoot in the air to scare away the lion, but before he could get off a shot the lion charged in and decided he wanted a piece of those dogs. With that, the mule took off and decided he wanted a piece of that lion.
As the lion approached the dogs the mule snatched him up by the tail and started whirling him around. Banging its head on the ground on every pass. Then he dropped it, stomped on it and held it to the ground by the throat. The mule then got down on his knees and bit the thing all over a couple of dozen times to make sure it was dead, then whipped it into the air again, walked back over to the couple (that were stunned in silence) and stood there ready to continue his ride... as if nothing had just happened.


Fortunately even though the hunter didn't get off a shot, his wife got off these 4..

.

[Deborah]

Good Mule....

[Edward Goehring]

Great post! Thank you. Re ''mule kills mountain lion -- a first? '',actually, both the present day and history have examples of horses exhibiting just this behavior, so why not mules?
Anyone who has given a young horse a ball with a rope attached has probably seen that horse pick up the rope and twirl the ball around, even a huge plastic ball weighing several pounds. Some horses actually make themselves dizzy whirling a large ball in circles. No-one teaches the horses this -- it's apparently instinct. I never really thought about what purpose that instinct might serve, but your post of the ''lion-killer mule'' story makes it all clear. Why *would* young horses need to practice swinging something around by its ''tail''? In case they encounter a predator with a tail, evidently :)

One of the most striking historical parallels might be Lisette, a notorious horse belonging to one of Napoleon's cavalry commanders in the early 1800s. A couple of incidents in Lisette's violent career:

''(at the battle of Eylau) I was attacked by a drunken Russian soldier, who thrust his bayonet into my left arm, and then, aiming another blow at me, lost his balance and missing his mark, he slashed Lisette's haunch. The pain of this injury aroused her ferocious instincts, she grabbed the soldier's (head) with her teeth and (killed him outright).'' -- Memoirs of Baron De Marbot



(Another writer continues the story of the incident...)

''Baron de Marbot's vicious mare Lisette bit a Russian officer who grabbed her bridle at Eylau. Marbot tells us that ‘she seized him by his belly, and, carrying him off with ease, she bore him out of the crush to the foot of the hillock, where, having (bitten him fatally) and mashed his body under her feet, she left him dying in the snow’.'' -- http://www.answers.com/topic/horses-1



(De Marbot's story of Lisette's past and her attack on a thief...)

''a charming mare called Lisette, an excellent animal from
Mecklemberg, good-looking, swift as a stag, and so well schooled
that a child could ride her. But this mare had a dreadful and
fortunately rare vice: she bit like a bulldog, and attacked
furiously anyone who displeased her, which decided M. Finguerlin
to sell her.

M. Finguerlin, when he sold the mare, had omitted to mention her
behavior, and on the evening of her purchase, a groom, whom she
had torn open, was found lying at her feet. Mme. de Lauriston was
justly alarmed and demanded cancellation of the sale. Not only
was this done, but the police, in order to prevent another such
accident, required that a notice be fixed to Lisette's loose-box
informing any potential buyer of her ferocity, and that any sale
would be null and void unless the buyer declared in writing that
he was aware of this notice.

As you may imagine, with such a recommendation, the mare was very
difficult to sell; M. d'Aister told me that her owner was
prepared to let her go for whatever was offered. I offered a
thousand francs and M. Finguerlin handed Lisette over to me,
although she had cost five thousand. For several months she gave
me a great deal of trouble; it took four or five men to saddle
her, and she could not be bridled without being blindfolded and
having all four legs tied; but once on her back one found her a
matchless ride.
(But) woe betide any stranger passing too close to her. I could give many examples of her ferocity, but I shall limit myself to one.

While Marshal Augereau was staying at the chateau of Bellevue,
near Berlin, the servants, having noticed that while they were at
diner, someone was coming to steal the sacks of oats from the
stable, asked Woirland to leave Lisette loose near the door. The
thief arrived, slipped into the stable and was already carrying
off one of the sacks when the mare grabbed him by the neck,
dragged him into the yard and broke two of his ribs by trampling
on him. People came running to the cries of the terrified thief,
whom Lisette was unwilling to abandon until my servant and I
persuaded her, for in her rage she would have savaged anyone
else.'' - Memoirs of Baron De Marbot



I hope this information sheds some light on the mule's behavior. Thanks for sharing the story and pix :)


Edward B. Goehring

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