It's a tale as old as time. A dog chases a cat up a tree. But this time, the canine is a coyote, the feline is a bobcat, and the tree rises above the canopy of Mission Trails Regional Park.
We wouldn't believe it either if it wasn't for hiker Bryce Pierce, who captured the extraordinary moment on camera early Saturday morning while hiking the east side of Cowles Mountain with his dogs.
"I heard loud rustling," Pierce told NBC 7 in an email. "That's when I saw the bobcat first, and then I realized coyotes were after it and soon enough one attempted to climb."
Pierce, who works as a zoologist with the County's agricultural department, started rolling his camera as the determined coyote climbed the trunk of an approximately 30-foot tree after the wild cat. The two face off for a fiesty few moments and -- potentially luckily for the bobcat -- a distraction halts the coyote.
Get top local stories in Southern California delivered to you every morning. >Sign up for NBC LA's News Headlines newsletter.
"I think the presence of my dogs and I may have discouraged them to continue, but at least the bobcat may live to see another day," Pierce said.
The coyote stares down the camera before inching back down the tree.
Pierce hikes the trail weekly and often sees coyotes in pursuit of quail, deer and rodents, but he's never witnessed something like this. He wasn't nervous to be up close to the nature show, although he definitely kept a close eye on the predators.
California
News from across California
"It was like a National Geographic moment for me like something out of an African safari or something," Pierce said, adding his only regret ... "I just wish I had brought my good camera that time."
The wild canines are not known to climb but occasionally a media outlet will report an instance of tree-scaling coyotes, particularly while in pursuit of prey.
