1/27/2005: Mule versus mountain lion
 

http://cellar.org/2004/mulevslion.jpg

Promenea finds this very amazing series of a mule who took on a lion... and won. The reliability of the shots is not known. They don't look 'shopped to me.

http://cellar.org/2004/mulevslion2.jpg

From the text: These pics came from a guy in AZ. Yes, the mule killed the mountain lion. The lion had been stalking them for the better part of the morning, on the way out to a hunt. They were pretty sure it was after one of the dogs. The cat ambushed them, and the mule pictured tossed its rider and went into attack (defense) mode, the horses scattered and shots were fired but no one was sure if they hit the cat or not. Unfortunately, it wasn't until it was almost over that one of the guys started snapping pics. The mule finally stomped the cougar to death after biting and throwing it around like a rag doll. The dogs wouldn't even come close until the mule settled down.

But Snopes is uncertain on the case.

I've heard that the cat was actually injured or trapped by hunters, who let then mule go loose on it (although the first picture looks 'shopped to me...). In the last photo in the series you can see two dogs that appear to be hunting dogs, so this would make sense. I can't imagine a mule "winning" in a bout with a healthy mountain lion--seems very unlikely.

having seen a mountain lion take on a rattlesnake (what incredible speed and reflexes) and win i don't know if i'm buying the story here. those mountain lions are so fast that you actually have to watch in slow motion if you want to see them lash out with their claws. considering that it would be impossible for amule to slink up on the cat, i think this fine feline must have been injured first.

I think I saw this in the WTF thread.

"Down here" where I live, Nearly all of the farmers who raise cows have mules and burros (Ithink burros mainly) in the fences with their cattle. The cows and burros coexist perfectly. The burros are there for one reason.......to ward off & kill coyotes. (SP?)
I have seen coyotes while hunting, and I have seen them in action in a chicken yard. They are quite vicious and use a gang-type approach. I've never seen it, but the farmers say it is not unlikely for the burros to kill at least two coyotes each month.
Still, I think the coyotes in comparison to the animal in these images would be considered a lot less dangerous.
The mountain lion looks dead to me.
I'll have to go with Snopes on this one.

You did ;)

Mule: offspring of a male ass and a female horse.

I'm voting on the already-dead theory. That's definitely something man-made on the cat's leg. Plus, notice that the cat's claws are retracted, there's blood on its mouth (but no visible injuries to the mule), and the overall ragdoll body position. Also a possible small-caliber entry wound where the neck joins the chest.

In the second pic, the cat's not even looking at the mule. Plus, you can see the metallic thingy leaning up against it.

And the story doesn't jive. Lion hounds that won't come near a lion because there's a pissed mule? Pfft. You couldn't keep a dog out of that fight if Satan himself was in it.

Dead cat in a trap, they let the mule play with it for a photo op.

Or to train it for the real thing. I'd be more worried, as a mountain lion, about the mule than the man.

Gives the man the chance to run or grab a weapon maybe.

the picture with the cougar in the mouth of the mule by the tail is obviously photoshopped. there is another picture (tried to attach it) of the mule and the reins are clearly visible. there are no reins in the "by the tail" picture.

Here's the 'by the tail' picture and the reins are right there. They're just looped from the horse's bit, behind the cat and then clearly visable over the the cat's stomach.

The 4 pictures I posted in the WTF thread that I linked above, were pretty fuzzy low quality images. They looked like frames from a movie film.
I played with them in photoshop quite a bit trying to clean them up. The "by the tail" picture that 404 posted, when I was working with the color saturation on that one, 4 or 5 red spots that could be bullet wounds showed up on the chest of the cat. :confused:

I agree. Whoever originally published those images really should have edited the dogs out of the pic. There isn't enough sedatives in the world to make a dog sit after just witnessing a fight like that.



As cool as a story of a mule killing a cougar is.

The dogs might avoid the mule if they were already sure the lion was dead.
Welcome to the Cellar Montmorency. :)

Bruce is, once again, da man. Snopes has finally spoken.

"Real Pictures, Inaccurate Description."

Found this regarding these pictures. After reading it, next question: in this day and age why are these people still killing mountain lions? Any why didn't these people do anything to dissipate the rumors?

"These pictures and the story about the lion-killing-mule circulated for quite a while on the Internet before Steven Richards got the real story and published it in Western Mule Magazine.

The mule's name is Berry and it belongs to 25-year old Jody Anglin from New Mexico.
Anglin says he enjoys hunting mountain lions and is usually accompanied by a cadre of hunting dogs.
In 1998 he got Berry to assist with the lion hunts.
On the first hunt, Berry was attracted to the carcass of a lion that Anglin had shot and sort of nuzzled it and nibbled at it.
With each new kill, however, Berry got more animated and couldn't wait to get to the dead lions.
The pictures in the eRumor were taken in 2002 or 2003 and show Berry toying with a lion that was already dead, not killing it.
Someone along the way created the story about the Montana couple, the stalking lion, and the fanciful descriptions of the pictures."

Thanks for the update, FLYING FROG.

Welcome to The Cellar. Stick around.

But it made for such a great story and made all the mules of the world feel important. Why take that away from them?

Won't someone please think of the mules?

Damnit - the very issue after my subscription ran out!

Hopkin! My frog hopkin flying frog!