For years, there have been those who argued that cougars weren't actually dangerous to humans. They brought up the point that no cougar had killed anyone in Oregon (though they had to concede they had in other states). In 1994, this viewpoint led to a ballot measure, passed mostly by city voters, to ban hunting cougars with dogs-- about the only effective way they can be hunted.
The ban has led to many more cougar in rural areas, such as where I live. Sometimes there has been concern when a cougar is seen hanging around a school, but in general the view has been the same-- cougar danger to human is not that big a deal and much exaggerated.
The photo is from a wildlife cam about a ridge over from our farm. It's not common to see five cougar together. This might've been a family.
Where we live, on the edge of wilderness, it is not uncommon to see cougar tracks or their kills. I've seen a cougar in the wild when I was a girl but not here. When we still had teens at home, they had been hiking on the hill above our house, heard the sound of a branch cracking in the brush. They then had something follow them down the hill. They didn't ever see it, but a cougar was most likely.
Cougar will track prey quite a ways as they are waiting for the right spot, but they are also curious. More recently, neighbors told us they saw one walk up the gravel road in front of our house. That's beside our mailbox and about fifty feet from the front door.
Sometimes, we observe our cattle herd bunching instead of their more casual way of sleeping-- with their calves in the middle. They know something, but so far, we don't think we've had a calf killed by them. The herd has enough size to protect itself.
Locally, their kills are generally deer, but the house up the gravel road lost a ram to one. Because our sheep are kept closer to the barns, we don't know we've had a cougar kill one. They could take a lamb with them. They like to cache their kills. The thing to remember is they have to kill to live. They are predators looking for opportunity.
Camping has had us in their country, and while hunting deer, my husband went into one of their dens in Eastern Oregon. Seeing them in a zoo, I very much appreciate their physical beauty and grace but never forget-- they are predators.
This week, Oregon has a new story regarding cougar.
Here's the thing for those folks who thought a cougar would never attack a human. Why wouldn't they? If we don't have weapons, if they don't have previous experiences of being threatened by us, we are prey species. Yes, we are also predator, but where it comes to teeth and claws, we don't have much to offer in the way of defense. Despite that, there have been many confrontations with cougars that ended with the cougar backing off-- far more than kills.
So, if confronted with one, make yourself big, don't run, look them in the eyes, yell, and if it attacks anyway, fight back. The sister of the woman killed said the authorities told her that her sister had wounds indicating she had fought for her life, but it wasn't enough. It's one of those times where you can't guarantee an outcome.
