Police Kill Cougar in Palo Alto

Kelsey, an 11-year-old black Labrador retriever, spends most of her time lounging around the family home in Palo Alto.

“She’s getting old,” said her owner, Linda Furrier. “She usually just sits there.”

But on Monday, when a mountain lion showed up, Kelsey sprang into action.

The 150-pound lion wandered into the quiet residential neighborhood where Furrier, her husband and their four children live. Kelsey, growling and barking fiercely, broke out of the garage where she usually naps and chased the big cat up a tree. Police later shot it to death.

“Kelsey’s the hero dog now,” Furrier said. “She’s going to get a steak for dinner.”

Police said neighbors first spotted the lion Monday morning, but officers couldn’t find it. Furrier said she and her youngest children, 2 and 3 years old, returned home about noon after a brief shopping trip.

Kelsey was in the garage, behind a door that was open just a crack.

“All of a sudden, Kelsey went berserk,” Furrier said. “I saw her break out of the garage and start chasing something.”

Furrier said whatever Kelsey was chasing disappeared. Furrier calmed the dog and put her back in the garage. Furrier said she hadn’t heard about the mountain lion, so she wasn’t quite sure what had happened.

But word of the lion soon reached the home. Police arrived and started looking around.

“Then someone, I think it was a police officer, looked up, and there was that mountain lion, up in the tree,” Furrier said.

The officers, who did not have a tranquilizer gun, shot the animal to death went it started to run away through the neighborhood where dozens of children play.

“I’m sorry about that,” Furrier said. “But I’m grateful that Kelsey was here.”