Middle River mountain lion?

Don Schwobel of Middle River Retreat woke up one recent Sunday morning and immediately got out of bed to take his dog Sage out for her usual morning walk. As the Madison County resident made his way through the neighborhood with his 9-year-old Beagle-English pointer mix, he noticed some blood on her neck.

Upon closer look, Schwobel realized Sage had numerous scratches and cuts all over her body.

“It looked like someone had taken a scalpel to her and bladed her open. There were slashes and bite marks,” Schwobel told The Eagle last week.

A few days before, a couple that lives nearby in the heavily wooded subdivision told Schwobel they had seen what they thought was a mountain lion in Schwobel’s backyard.

Although officials claim the feline no longer exists in the wild in Virginia, the Middle River Retreat resident said he has heard of other cougar sightings in the county by his neighbors and other area residents.

The Charlottesville-based emergency veterinarian who treated Sage for her injuries said the assailant was likely a bobcat, however, Schwobel is skeptical that a bobcat could do that much damage to his 41-pound dog.

Hoping for assistance with an investigation, the Madison County resident reported the incident to the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

“I was told there’s no such thing as mountain lions in Virginia…their official position is to deny the existence of mountain lions here…[I] might as well have been reporting a UFO,” he said.

VDGIF officials have previously said that although they receive reports of mountain lion sightings on a regular basis, further investigations typically reveal the sightings were of some other animal, including housecats, bobcats, coyotes or dogs. Besides a few incidents where people have spotted mountain lions that were actually escaped pets, the last confirmed wild cougar in Virginia was in 1882, game officials have previously told The Eagle.

The department’s response was disappointing for Schwobel who fears for the safety of children living within his subdivision. Robert Bordeau, a neighbor of the Schwobels, also worries for the many people he says often walk in the area, many of whom do not know that neighbors say they have seen a mountain lion.
“I’m just afraid for the people hiking and walking around here, especially kids,” Bordeau said.

Schwobel is currently attempting to catch the animal using a live trap. It is illegal to hunt the eastern mountain lion, as it is listed as an endangered species, according to game officials.