Five days after a Dachshund was snatched by a mountain lion as its owner walked the dog, neighbors near the scene talked about cougars in the area.

The dog was grabbed and eaten in a gated community off Star Ranch Road by the large male cat. The lion yanked the leash from the owner’s hands and ran off with the pooch.

Shannon Vall, who lives nearby and walks her German short-haired pointer Cana near the community, said, “We haven’t seen any ourselves,” but explained that a neighbor on Langdale Way told her he has seen cougars before and carries a gun for safety when he’s doing yard work.

Homes on the west side of Langdale border the community where the attack happened on Broadlake View.

Another couple who lives in the hilly area just north of Cheyenne Mountain State Park wouldn’t give their names, but said mountain lions are the “scariest” among wildlife in the area.

The couple said they see bears, foxes and even a coyote once in a while but don’t feel threatened. They said years ago they would see a mother cougar and its two cubs wandering the neighborhood and sunning themselves on the sidewalks.

Others in the neighborhood aren’t nervous despite tales of lions encroaching into yards and streets.

Jeannine LaForce has lived on Langdale Way for 14 years and has seen only one lion “crossing the road when I was driving home one night,” she said.

LaForce has four kids but isn’t worried about lions.

“If I was worried about every bear and animal, I just wouldn’t live here,” she said.

She said that when her children ask about wildlife dangers, she simply educates them on how to stay safe.

“I respect it,” LaForce said. “We keep our distance and we don’t feed it and encourage it to come up to our house.”

Michael Seraphin, a spokesman for Colorado Parks and Wildlife, said the office that services El Paso and Teller counties has received 31 calls about mountain lion sightings this year. Eight of those reports came from the 80906 ZIP code in southwestern Colorado Springs.

Parks and Wildlife officers were able to lure and trap the 2½-year-old lion that attacked the Dachshund.

About 5 p.m. that day they set a trap that Seraphin described as being about the size of a desk.

He said a piece of meat is attached to a trigger inside the trap. The door is shut the instant the cougar pulls at the snack.

The animal took the bait and officers caught the cougar by about 6 p.m., Seraphin said.

“They’re not prone to going into a trap,” he said. “But in this case it worked.”

Seraphin said the cat was euthanized shortly after it was caught because it was “considered to be a threat to public safety.”

Initial examinations determined the cougar had eaten the Dachshund, and Parks and Wildlife veterinarians will perform a necropsy on the animal to test for diseases such as rabies. Seraphin did not know the time frame for the necropsy.