Cougar Eats Large Dog In Backyard Of Apartment On Pepperdine Campus

Written by on February 10, 2022

A large dog went out the back door last Friday night at an apartment above Pepperdine University, and a mountain lion was waiting. The family pet was attacked and partly eaten, leaving the family horrified and the Pepperdine campus on the alert.

Pepperdine public safety official say it appears that the cougar has moved on, but heightened patrols continue. And they are urging people on the Pepperdine campus to be very careful, particularly during the twilight hours when mountain lions are often spotted on the Pepperdine campus. 

The attack happened at a school owned apartment near the top of the campus, above the law school and just above the public safety department’s office.

This is about 8 miles south of Monte Nido, a cluster of houses in Malibu Canyon where a mountain lion attacked a 5-year-old boy last August.

That lion was a young one, and was shot and killed by a state game ranger.  His brother and mother did not express aggressive behavior and were tagged and released. 

That 65-pound mountain lion attacked the boy in his front yard and bit and slashed the child’s head, neck and upper body.  The boy’s mother was able to fend off the attack by striking the lion multiple times, and the family did not reveal just how serious the wounds were. 

Mountain lions are frequently spotted on the Pepperdine campus, and California Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists have repeatedly stressed that they are not observing any unusual behavior by the Apex predator.

Fish and Wildlife has scheduled to public educational sessions on mountain lions at Pepperdine.

A state official in Sacramento confirmed the attack, and said they did not believe it to be unusual mountain lion behavior.  He said more information would be released later.


[There are no radio stations in the database]