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Hoagie vs. mountain lion: Conflicting reports, but one brave dog

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A Southern California dog named Hoagie was initially called a hero after he scuffled with a mountain lion in an Orange County campground Tuesday. But today authorities are questioning whether Hoagie was the hero or the aggressor in the incident, which left him injured.

The black Labrador retriever mix, whose owners once rescued him from euthanasia at an animal shelter, was hiking with his human family in the Cleveland National Forest near Lake Elsinore when the fight broke out. Initial reports suggested that Hoagie intervened when the mountain lion attacked his owners, the Morse family of Wildomar. ‘There’s no question the dog saved his life,’ Orange County sheriff’s spokesman Jim Amormino told our colleague Sam Quinones shortly after the story broke.

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But today, wildlife officials are disagreeing and counter that they suspect Hoagie may have started the fight. From our sister blog, L.A. Now:

‘The report we got was that the dog went up to a mountain lion and the mountain lion ran away and the dog chased it and was mauled,’ said Harry Morse, spokesman for the California Department of Fish and Game. ‘We went out there and didn’t find any evidence of a mountain lion. They didn’t find any tracks or hair. That’s not to say it wasn’t there.’

Morse said the mountain lion is not being viewed as a threat to public safety and is not being sought by wardens. In cases where an animal is deemed a threat, it is hunted down and killed.

‘As far as we can tell, the dog went after the lion, and the lion turned around and attacked the dog,’ wildlife biologist Kevin Brennan of the Department of Fish and Game told L.A. Now.

Falcon Campground, the site of the attack, and nearby Blue Jay Campground will both be closed until Friday to allow for mountain lion warning signs to be posted.

For his part, Hoagie was rushed to the Clinton Keith Veterinary Hospital and required four hours of surgery. He’s since been released to his owners’ care. And whether he acted preemptively or in defense of his owners, we certainly have to give him credit for bravery!

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-- Lindsay Barnett

Video: KTLA

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