I'm almost surprised the Chihuahua didn't kill the panther.

It was tied-up. It didn't stand a chance.

Poor wee dog. R.I.P.

There was a puma/mountain lion roaming at night around my house in Malibu for a while, and combined with several families of coyotes just a few hundred feet away in the adjacent open land, I'd hear the lion roaring sometimes right outside -- and I do mean, right outside -- my bedroom window when there was some competition for whatever they were both wanting to eat (might of been, for the lion, the coyote youth, which was my best guess).

I tried explaining these episodes to a Ph.D. I'd worked with earlier and he thought I was describing some sort of sleep disorder, and discounted the lion roaring and sleep disturbance because of it, as some sort of delusion. Despite my best efforts to assure him it was very.real, this fellow -- who knew me well enough so his (wrongful) assumptions were odd -- insisted there was no mountain lion, nor no actual growling, nor no coyote, prey or otherwise.

It rained intensely one night just after my last conversation with that fellow and sure enough, that night, there was more roaring just outside my window and another night thankful I had walls and a solid door.

I walked outside very early that morning following the heavy rain and there, all around one corner of my house, right beneath my bedroom windows, in sand that had washed down from the hill onto the walkway that surrounded that side of my place, there in the freshly dampened sand were giant lion footprints. And coyote prints, large and small. But the lion prints were breathtaking, so huge I could fit both my fists in only one paw print and still had room all around to see the rest of the lion's foot.

I took photos. Showed them to the fellow, an urban guy with urban environments and the disbelief even then of someone who didn't know what a lion growl, nor coyote howl, was. But I sure did.

Those things are huge. Chihuahua, you are right, did not stand a chance.

Must have been a destitute panther. The ones I've encountered just east of there would prefer an 8 pound critter, Coon, Shoat, Possum, etc. this was just an appetizer, or maybe the cat had the munchies and just wanted a bit of a snack. Another encroachment into the glades, no doubt. If we want to take their territory/habitat, we'll have to kill them as we move in. Just like Malibu, and their up canyon encroachment. We at the top of the foodchain do have some competition here. Just have to either not take their space, or run 'em out when we do.
nuf sed

Was that a nice thing to say about my grandpuppy?

Sorry, Norma. I had to sacrifice him at the altar of my punchline.

Here's the deal, we know this was coming. We humans have invaded the space of the wild animals for a long time, they were here BEFORE us.