IDLEDALE — Sunday night was hot — so hot that Scout slept on the floor at the foot of Mack and Jacquie Anderson’s bed while Sam snoozed in a nearby chair.

Scout, a 12-year-old yellow Labrador retriever, and her close buddy, Sam, a 3-year-old chocolate Lab — enjoyed the cool air flowing through the screenless, open French doors.

Sometime between 4 and 4:30 a.m., Jacquie Anderson heard a scuffling and got up to see whether Scout was having a seizure.

“I was a foot from something that was more than Scout,” she said.

In the dark, she made out the shape and turned to Mack and said, “There’s an animal in here. It’s a mountain lion.”

Her voice may have startled the mountain lion, which picked up Scout and ran.

The lion — a 130-pound male — ran through the yard and jumped a 6-foot fence with the 72-pound dog in his mouth.

“It happened so fast they (the two dogs) didn’t make a peep,” Jacquie Anderson said.

On Tuesday, the Andersons noted the squished-down fence and scattered firewood pile in the lion’s escape route.

Mack Anderson said he managed to turn on the light, grab his shotgun and a flashlight and head out to find Scout, to no avail.

“It was pretty bizarre to wake up at 4 a.m. and find a mountain lion in your bedroom,” Mack Anderson said.

They called 911, and Jefferson County sheriff’s deputies and Colorado Division of Wildlife officers tracked the lion up a hill about 200 yards, where they found Scout’s body hidden under leaves.

Mountain lions will cache prey and return to eat it later. Wildlife spokeswoman Jennifer Churchill said the habit resulted in the mountain lion being trapped early Tuesday where it had left Scout’s body.

The Andersons agreed to use Scout’s body as bait.

“Scouty was already dead,” Mack Anderson said. They wanted to protect their neighbors by making sure a mountain lion that wasn’t afraid of people was captured.

“It was the best way of knowing we got the right animal,” Churchill said.

The lion was shot and taken to DOW’s wildlife lab for a necropsy to see whether there were health problems that led the 2 1/2- to 3-year-old animal to bypass its usual diet of elk and deer in favor of snatching a dog.

“Scout probably never woke up,” Jacquie Anderson said. “We think she was killed instantly” of a broken neck.

The Andersons have lived in their home for 32 years and have seen mountain lions in the area before.

“I love mountain lions and hate to see it had to be killed,” Mack Anderson said. “We’re pretty used to them, but not in our bedroom.”

Ann Schrader: 303-278-3217 or aschrader@denverpost.com