‘Mountain lion' casually walks past reporter on Live TV. She thought it was a dog

Imagine yourself standing in the middle of a dark, isolated road, and suddenly, you see a lion appear in front of you. The very thought itself is terrifying, right? A journalist, Morgan Saxton (@morgansaxtontv on X), encountered a similar harrowing experience while she was reporting live from a deserted road. Her real-time broadcast was momentarily halted when Saxton saw an unfamiliar creature approaching her from the woods. Though she was confused whether the creature that just walked past her was a mountain lion or a dog, her unyielding bravery during the whole incident is worth applauding.

"What you’re seeing is — actually a dog coming into our live shot," Saxton said, pointing at the four-legged creature walking towards her. "I think it’s a dog, I’m not sure, but anyway, there's some sort of creature below me," she said, giggling, although the nervousness was evident on her face. Somehow, Saxton kept her calm and quickly went back to her reporting as soon as the unidentified animal was lost behind the bush. Later, on October 3, 2018, she shared the chilling moment on her social media and wrote, "Terrifying! A dog, maybe a mountain lion, made its TV debut during my morning live shot! What animal do you think this is?" in the caption.

Shortly after her post went viral, Saxton shared another tweet, confirming that the animal she met during her live broadcast was just a dog. She clarified, "CONFIRMED: Just spoke with @utahdwr believe it’s a dog, based on the paw prints. Thanks to the guy who came out to check on things after getting an early morning wake-up call."

While many will say Saxton was just lucky not to fall victim to a wild predator, research indicates that animals attacking humans is not impossible, but is definitely a rare occurrence, often triggered by specific circumstances. A report by Live Science claims that wild creatures are often more scared of humans than we are of them. "The fear of humans that a lot of these predators show is really positive in that light. It gives us some opportunity to potentially share spaces with these animals — to go hiking in places where pumas, bears, and wolves all exist, without experiencing any negative impacts," Justin Suraci, scientist and wildlife ecologist, shared.

Meanwhile, the journalist's scary encounter with the then-unidentified creature quickly became the 'talk' of the internet, leaving people in utter disbelief. Reacting to the video, @cougar_nate commented, "That is a very young, small mountain lion. Obviously, it has been around humans before, or you wouldn't have seen it. I would have peed my pants." Similarly, @abarberadt said, "I don’t want to tell you how to do your job, but you should be running away screaming in this situation." Another user who goes by @cacannabis_club on X wrote, "If you just let a mountain lion walk up to you and laughed about it, then you are the most fearless person in the world."

@wshdinhisblood pointed out, "Look at the tail and ears. Mountain, for sure. Might be ill or something to cause it to act out of character by just walking by, but it’s also nighttime, so you’re in its realm." On the other hand, @gramgramsam commented, "Look at the shadow of the thing in the background. You can see the silhouette of its face." @muskratzen said, "Definitely some form of feline because of the curl I noticed in the extremity of the tail. Cats have more vertebrae than dogs. And most wild cats are bigger than most dogs."

You can follow Morgan Saxton (@morgansaxtontv) on X for lifestyle content.