A small mountain lion believed to have killed a poodle in the backyard of a Las Cruces home early Wednesday was still at large this morning, and a live trap set up by the state Game and Fish Department overnight remained empty, the Las Cruces Sun-News reported.

The attack occurred in a neighborhood behind Lowe's Home Improvement store on North Main Street in northeast Las Cruces, the paper said.

Luann Tafoya, Game and Fish spokeswoman, told the Sun-News that the live trap was set up at the site where the pet poodle was killed, but Game and Fish officers shut the door on the large metal trap this morning and plan to reopen it later today.

Officers will decide whether to keep setting the trap if there are signs the animal has returned to the area, Tafoya told the paper.

A Game and Fish official said Wednesday that it's not unusual for mountain lions to be spotted in Las Cruces this time of year, and while the big cats typically feed on deer, they have been known to attack livestock and domestic animals, the Sun-News reported.

Attacks on humans are rare, but game officials people who come in contact with a mountain lion to stay calm, don't turn their back on the animal, back away carefully making oneself look as large as possible, and, if all else fails and the cat attacks, yell, hit it with any object available and keep fighting, according to earlier reports. 

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