Dog Chases Cougar Up Tree In Idaho Park

PRESTON, Idaho – There was a big shakeup in a community just north of Preston, Idaho, after a farmer’s dog chases a mountain lion up a tree.

About 15 miles north of Preston, Banida is a small, farming community. Not much happens here,  and it was a pretty average morning, for Blair Gregerson. He was bailing hay until his dog, Zeus, spotted something.

“I’m thinking, oh great, he got a skunk or something,” Gregerson said.

Zeus had started sniffing around in the bushes, and chasing.

“I start hearing a commotion, and I see something jumping, and it’s hitting the fence,” Gregerson said. “All of the sudden it’s just a blur, a big blur.”

Gregerson looked up, and a mountain lion was above him.

“It freaked me out,” he said.

He said the mountain lion seemed calm, and didn’t look like he was going anywhere.

“We just kind of look at each other, and introduce ourselves,” Gregerson said.

Gregerson said in all that mountain lion was in the tree for about six or seven hours, while they waited for biologists with Fish & Game to get there. In the meantime, word spread that there was a cougar hanging out, just above the town park that backs up to Gregerson’s property. “Neighbors start showing up, and then the cops show up. For a while, it was a circus, you know.”

Gregerson caught the moment the mountain lion was tranquilized, allowing biologists to get it down safely. It was tagged with a GPS collar before being relocated. But for several hours the tree next to the park was the talk of the town…and likely still is.

“Banida’s a pretty laid-back town. If you see a dog chase a cat over a fence, or up a tree that’s about as exciting as it gets. But when it’s a mountain lion, then it’s really exciting.”

A big deal for this community of about 200, but for Zeus, it’s just one more cat to chase up a tree.