Jump to content

Mountain Lions Moving East


clearpath

Recommended Posts

The potential problem with Mountain Lions in the west was discussed in detail last year (or early this year) when the mountain biker was killed by a cougar in CA. However, this recent article Mountain lions on the prowl once again from USAToday talks about the animal moving east of the Mississippi. Do you think this will be a problem for geocachers? Is this something that you welcome or do you feel it should be stopped? Tell us how you really feel ...

Link to comment

In February 2003, we drove fifty crow miles to get to our 200th cache find. Soon after stepping out of the cachemobile and heading up the trail, we saw large animal prints that I immediately recognized as some sort of giant feline. They were quite fresh. Now, for some, that would've ended the hike. But with a milestone find still awaiting us, I said "oh look, someone's walking with their doggy" and we merrily proceeded on our way to a great cache.

 

The following weekend, the logs from the next finders reported coming across the remains of that large kitty's latest deer kill. I made a note never to wear my antler hat out in the woods. Since I don't use it anymore, I gave it to my ex-wife.

Link to comment

We have them here and I've never seen them at all. When I was living in Wenatchee WA I would hear stories about attacks. Then again when I lived in Alaska there were plenty of stories about Bear attacks.

 

It happens, it's rare, and right now the two legged predadors are far ahead in the numbers game. Besides I seldom cache alone and you can hear the din we make for quite some distance.

Edited by Renegade Knight
Link to comment

I see them often while bowhunting. The trick in seeing them vs not is most likely just what RK mentioned. If they hear/smell/see you first, you'll probably never see them at all. When I'm hunting, I make great efforts to remain quiet, eliminate my scent, and keep a wary eye out.

 

Next time you're in the woods, try finding a comfortable spot behind some cover and just sit quietly for 30 minutes. You'll be surprised at how active the woods become.

Link to comment

They are a lot farther east than most Depts. of Natural Resources want to admit!!!

Quote:

 

Wildlife biologists say reports of mountain lions have soared in the last few years, but they dismiss most sightings as urban legends, akin to reports of the legendary Bigfoot, a giant, hairy animal said to exist in the Pacific Northwest and other regions

 

I grew up in West Virginia and both my parents as well as a family friend who was Superintendant of one of the National Forests at the time have all seem them. I have not seen one but have talked to several folks while I was working for the NPS that have. And there is one that has been sighted many time about 4 miles from where I live in Ohio now! I know they were in the areas that I grew up in and worked in. They don't bother me in the least.

 

The expolding coyote population in WV is a different story. They have been seen in packs of as many as 12 and one farmer friend lost every calf born this spring! I am far more leary of a pack of coyotes than one big cat. And I don't recomend geocaching (or anything else outdoors) alone in the West Virginia hills!

 

*Quote from USAToday article-color and italics added for emphasis.

Link to comment

I saw a mountain lion in a small rural/suburban SW CT town (near N41 W073) some years back. He was lounging on a rock, and wasn't pleased to have his sunbathing interrupted, so he loped off. We started to follow it, but the ticks attacked, tens and tens of deer ticks, and we ran screaming and plucking them off. Apparently we weren't afraid of no lion, but those miniscule ticks scared the heck out of us. This was about 15 years ago maybe. He was in the cleared area under some power lines. Later we heard reports of other sightings in CT.

Link to comment

There have been sightings in the NE over the years, some by pretty reputable people, but the official line is that they are not here.

 

We have black bear up the wazoo here in NJ. Thankfully they generally aren't agressive, but an infant was carried off by one and killed last year within 50 miles of my home, so they can be dangerous. Its probably just a matter of time before some kid gets dragged from his backyard. Still, I'm pretty comfortable hiking and geocaching in bear country.

 

Mountain lions are a different story and if they make their way to NJ I'll probably be a bit uncomfortable in the woods and may start packing while hiking.

 

On the other hand, maybe they'll do something about all these freakin' deer, or "agent orange on hooves" as we call them.

Edited by briansnat
Link to comment

Yeah.....there out there...in record numbers here, and something to be aware of at all times. Two of our caches are in big cat country, and we posted that on the cache pages.

With all that have been seen, its very possible their territory with be expanding east, the most common food for them here are deer, but in recent years javalinas have started moving from AZ and western NM to this area and western TX in large numbers. Where they go, so will the cats.

 

38857_200.jpg

Link to comment

Personally, I wouldn't worry about them. I've hiked and backpacked solo in their turf for years without considering them much of a threat. In fact, you have to pretty much go looking for them to find and see them. After that attack in California awhile back, the news had a couple stats to keep things in perspective that I found quite interesting. I don't remember the exact numbers, but one of the stats showed that when hiking in cougar country, you were more likely to get killed having a tree fall on you than you were to be attacked by a big cat.

Link to comment

In my younger days I use to cross country ski in the Olympics above Quilcene Washington. One day we rounded a curve on a trail and there about 50 yards ahead of us, across a small stream was a large cougar playing with some sort of animal. We must have been down wind as he never noticed us. He would toss it in the air and then pounce on it. We watched him for a while and then continued on our tour. At Lake Cushman in the Olympics a young cat attacked the small dog of a couple looking for a cache. They were able to drive it off and even took pictures of it. Probably a young inexperienced male that liked dog food. Dick, W7WT

Edited by W7WT
Link to comment
I'm not too worried.  In fact, I'm typing this right now on my blackberry after getting a cache on an Adirondack peak.

 

There's no way the mountain lions will make it this far east.  I mean, after all - what's that?  I hear something in those bushes!  I gotta get up and r

:laughing: I hope the cougar didn't do too much damage to your Elvis hairdo and we hear from you again, Chilehead.

Link to comment

Editorial opinion, and just that. A couple of weeks ago a lion was spotted and or killed near South Sioux City NE. Think about this for a while, why? would it have anything to do with us (humans not just geocachers) moving into their turf? A few years ago there was a big deal about wolves in the boundry area of Minnesota, the ranchers went nuts, who was there first the domesticated sheep or the wolves?

Link to comment
Editorial opinion, and just that. A couple of weeks ago a lion was spotted and or killed near South Sioux City NE. Think about this for a while, why? would it have anything to do with us (humans not just geocachers) moving into their turf? A few years ago there was a big deal about wolves in the boundry area of Minnesota, the ranchers went nuts, who was there first the domesticated sheep or the wolves?

 

At one time everywhere was their turf, but in most cases these animals haven't been around in a hundred or more years. Do we really want wolves, bear and mountain lion roaming Central Park in NY or Downtown LA? Yeah, they were there first.

 

The problem is that at one time, as humans moved in, the big predators moved on, or were exterminated. Now they are often protected by law and have habituiated themselves to living in close prioximity to humans, which means that they've lost their natural fear of humans. This is a dangerous situation.

 

In NJ, we now have bear roaming towns and cities that probably haven't been bear habitat for 200+ years. Even in my own neighborhood, 10 years ago there were no bear, but now they are regular visitors, often brazenly walking down the street right past playing children. Not a healthy situation for the bear or the kids.

Link to comment
Mountain lions are a different story and if they make their way to NJ I'll probably be a bit uncomfortable in the woods and may start packing while hiking.

Packing what? Since you still live in the People's Democratik Republick of New Jersey, I know you don't mean a handgun. Besides, I don't know one would be that effective against a large cat. I might feel better packing one, but I'd probably have a better chance of survival with a large knife.

Link to comment

I was in South Sioux City, Nebr. last week, stopped at one geocache there. That night I saw on the local news that a mountain lion was shot and killed that day in South Sioux City, Nebr. It was sitting in a homeowner's tree minding its own business, but the police didn't know what else to do but kill it.

Link to comment
Mountain lions are a different story and if they make their way to NJ I'll probably be a bit uncomfortable in the woods and  may start packing while hiking.

Packing what? Since you still live in the People's Democratik Republick of New Jersey, I know you don't mean a handgun. Besides, I don't know one would be that effective against a large cat. I might feel better packing one, but I'd probably have a better chance of survival with a large knife.

Tonight, they had a show on Animal Planet where some engineers reproduced a large cat's skull. It was made of heavy aluminum and they attached hydrolics to the jaws to produce 1,000 lbs of 'biting force' (equal to that of a large lion). They stuck a 1 gallon can of tomato sauce in the mouth of this mechanical beast and when the jaws engaged, the can exploded. Can you imagine what it would do to a human head? I guess we could ask Sigfreid and Roy ...

Edited by clearpath
Link to comment
In my younger days I use to cross country ski in the Olympics above Quilcene Washington. One day we rounded a curve on a trail and there about 50 yards ahead of us, across a small stream was a large cougar playing with some sort of animal. We must have been down wind as he never noticed us. He would toss it in the air and then pounce on it. We watched him for a while and then continued on our tour. At Lake Cushman in the Olympics a young cat attacked the small dog of a couple looking for a cache. They were able to drive it off and even took pictures of it. Probably a young inexperienced male that liked dog food. Dick, W7WT

I am currently working at Lake Cushman. Lasr january a guard refused to do a security check On the gate that is about 1/2 mile past the spillway because he hearda cat growling in the darkness.

 

At Wynoochee Dam on the other side of the olympics the workers have seen a cat and even found a deer it had stashed (or is it cached?) under a bridge right below the dam and less than 1/4 mile from their residence.

Edited by ironman114
Link to comment
I was in South Sioux City, Nebr. last week, stopped at one geocache there. That night I saw on the local news that a mountain lion was shot and killed that day in South Sioux City, Nebr. It was sitting in a homeowner's tree minding its own business, but the police didn't know what else to do but kill it.

I wondered the same thing. Just like you, all accounts I have read is that it was sleeping in a tree. I suppose it is likely a lack of knowing what to do. When the one was captured in Omaha it was hunted down by people with tranquilizer darts, but Omaha has a nationally respected zoo with the capability to step in and help. I am figuring Souix City had nothing like that and didn't want to wait for people from Omaha to get there. That is my theory anyway. BTW, I think the Omaha lion now lives at the Omaha zoo. No state was willing to take it in a relocation.

Link to comment

I read the link in the first post for the newspaper article. I few points struck me; first, cougars were "hunted to extinction" in the East and Midwest during the 1800s and early 1900s. So when they make a comeback what is our reaction? In Iowa three cats have been killed since 2000. The last confirmed sightings in the area were in 1867. Third, a cougar was killed while sleeping in a tree in Nebraska last week. Neither of the reports state that the animal was attacking or threating anyone. So these cats were killed simply because of fear.

I live in Northeast Ohio. The deer population has exploded in recent years. I have spotted deer in the urban area in which I live. If a few cougar lived around here and thinned the heard, it would be OK with me. I would still have higher odds of striking a deer with my car than being attacked by a cougar.

Here's a couple of stats to chew on, 40,000 people are killed in motor vehicle accidents in the US each year. 400,000 die each year from tobacco use. How many deaths are caused by cougars?

Remember folks, we are not at the top of the food chain. And, if confronted by a cougar, bear or some other attacking animal, you only need to outrun your caching partner.

Link to comment
Remember folks, we are not at the top of the food chain. And, if confronted by a cougar, bear or some other attacking animal, you only need to outrun your caching partner.

LOL !!! That a good point ... you don't have to be faster than the cougar, you just need to be faster than your partner. :laughing:

Link to comment

I have only seen large, wild cats on other continents. In spite of the danger inherent, I would consider myself privileged to spot one in North America.

 

Every time I go into a wilderness area I fantasize about seeing some of the “old world” animals. I’m often nearly silent; Bad Andy is right, it’s amazing what’s around us, even in urban areas.

 

And animals don’t read the same territory maps we do, or follow the habitat rules we have assigned them.

 

A few years ago, I spotted (and confirmed to my satisfaction with photos) an Anhinga along White River in central Indiana. Anhingas look like cormorants, I was told. I know that and I know the difference between the two. (Anhingas are found mainly in Florida, along the gulf coast and several hundred miles up the Mississippi.)

 

Some research determined that “my” Anhinga (which I observed 3 times in the same area over a period of a week) would have been the first confirmed Anhinga spotted in Indiana in over a hundred years.

 

It’s too bad that confirmation usually equals dead animal.

 

Anyway, back on topic, to answer your question, reports like the one in USA Today will only draw me into the wilderness more. If I get maimed or killed doing so, at least it will happen doing something I love. Oh yeah, I’ll probably be geocaching, too. :):laughing:

Link to comment
Mountain lions are a different story and if they make their way to NJ I'll probably be a bit uncomfortable in the woods and  may start packing while hiking.

Packing what? Since you still live in the People's Democratik Republick of New Jersey, I know you don't mean a handgun. Besides, I don't know one would be that effective against a large cat. I might feel better packing one, but I'd probably have a better chance of survival with a large knife.

Tonight, they had a show on Animal Planet where some engineers reproduced a large cat's skull. It was made of heavy aluminum and they attached hydrolics to the jaws to produce 1,000 lbs of 'biting force' (equal to that of a large lion). They stuck a 1 gallon can of tomato sauce in the mouth of this mechanical beast and when the jaws engaged, the can exploded. Can you imagine what it would do to a human head? I guess we could ask Sigfreid and Roy ...

What that means is that you can avenge your buddy's death is about all. A bear will give you some warning before attacking. You could get a gun out. A Cougar won't give you any warning. They just attack. There is no time to react until after the attack has happened.

Link to comment
In February 2003, we drove fifty crow miles to get to our 200th cache find.  Soon after stepping out of the cachemobile and heading up the trail, we saw large animal prints that I immediately recognized as some sort of giant feline.  They were quite fresh.  Now, for some, that would've ended the hike.  But with a milestone find still awaiting us, I said "oh look, someone's walking with their doggy" and we merrily proceeded on our way to a great cache.

 

The following weekend, the logs from the next finders reported coming across the remains of that large kitty's latest deer kill.  I made a note never to wear my antler hat out in the woods.  Since I don't use it anymore, I gave it to my ex-wife.

As an employee of a state resource agency, The "official" word is that they are not in PA. It has also been shown that a large majority of the "sightings" east of the Mississippi have been confirmed hoaxes.

 

However, I still swear that I saw one in Blossburg, PA while spotting for bears back in 1988. :blink: We first thought it was a Cinnamon phase black bear with pointy ears, but when it ran off, that tail was too long to be a bear.

 

Still a mystery...but I still will be more concerned about my safety while driving to the parking spot for a cache than I will about the hike to the cache.

 

Salvelinus

Link to comment
What that means is that you can avenge your buddy's death is about all.  A bear will give you some warning before attacking.  You could get a gun out.  A Cougar won't give you any warning.  They just attack.  There is no time to react until after the attack has happened.

Yeah, I read somewhere that if you see a mountain lion you have a good chance of surviving, it's the one you don't see that will kill you ...

Link to comment

 

Anyway, back on topic, to answer your question, reports like the one in USA Today will only draw me into the wilderness more. If I get maimed or killed doing so, at least it will happen doing something I love. Oh yeah, I’ll probably be geocaching, too. :blink::(

If you're serious about spotting N American Predators in the wild, here follows about the best way to go about it. Be warned, it can be dangerous.

 

Most sporting goods stores carry predator calls that will draw them in.

here is an example cabelas

 

After you've settled into a quiet spot, let er rip with a distress call. You'll most likely get coyotes to respond, but if theres a big cat or wolves in the area, you might get lucky.

 

Using these calls out of season and/or without a valid hunting license is illegal in some areas.

Link to comment

 

A few years ago, I spotted (and confirmed to my satisfaction with photos) an Anhinga along White River in central Indiana. Anhingas look like cormorants, I was told. I know that and I know the difference between the two. (Anhingas are found mainly in Florida, along the gulf coast and several hundred miles up the Mississippi.)

 

That sounds like the common Hoosier Quayle. It's hard to tell where they came from because they fly backwards. :blink:

 

On topic : There were numerous "sightings" of cougars in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin this past summer. None were confirmed. These were probably coyotes. I've seen two coyotes. One near an airport and the other near a golf course. I think they were interested in the plentiful supply of Canada geese.

Link to comment

:(

Sorry.

It's just this whole topic is kind of funny.

 

The animals responsible for the greatest human death toll? Fleas. Remember the black death? It was spread by fleas that lived on rats. The bubonic plague is moving through the west, now there's something to be scared about. If you see a dead rodent stay away from it. The fleas that carry the plague can lay dormant for months waiting for another host to come along.

 

Now back to our regularly scheduled hysteria. <I'm totally kidding here, don't anybody get their jockeys in a knot.> :blink:

 

Edit: Except for the part about the plague, that's serious as a heart attack. If you live between Sierras and the Rockies, from Mexico to Canada learn more about the plague.

Edited by rusty_tlc
Link to comment

Cougars as well as wolves and wolverines have been spotted and/or killed in Michigan's lower peninsula this year. This is from todays Detroit News.

"But the mountain lion is moving east again, expanding its territory for the first time in a century. Since 2000, more than two-dozen have been killed or photographed outside the animal's normal range"

The link is;

http://www.detnews.com/2004/metro/0412/03/A11-22646.htm

Link to comment
The animals responsible for the greatest human death toll? Fleas. Remember the black death? It was spread by fleas that lived on rats. The bubonic plague is moving through the west, now there's something to be scared about. If you see a dead rodent stay away from it. The fleas that carry the plague can lay dormant for months waiting for another host to come along.

 

The most dangerous mammal in America today is the deer. Thousands of people are killed every year in deer related accidents.

Link to comment
Personally, I wouldn't worry about them. I've hiked and backpacked solo in their turf for years without considering them much of a threat. In fact, you have to pretty much go looking for them to find and see them. After that attack in California awhile back, the news had a couple stats to keep things in perspective that I found quite interesting. I don't remember the exact numbers, but one of the stats showed that when hiking in cougar country, you were more likely to get killed having a tree fall on you than you were to be attacked by a big cat.

The first attack resulted in the death of the male bike rider. Within about 2 weeks the same cat attacked a woman on a bike, in the same general area. If it hadn't of been for a friend of hers that was riding with her the cat more then likely would have killed her also. It took the friend and 2 other bikers to scare the cat off. It was tracked down and killed later.

This all took place on the Santa Rosa Preserve in southwestern Riverside County

Edited by vagabond
Link to comment

Three years ago I shot a nice buck in the NW VA Blueridge area in early civil twilight with a blackpowder rifle. As is typical for deer shot with slow moving bullets from a muzzle loader he looked at me then turned and ran off. (This is to some, the "fun" of black powder hunting.) Since I had seen good placement and a hole appear where I had aimed I knew I got him and that he would be running dry real soon, so I took my time reloaded, had a cigarette, climbed down, added a cap and commenced tracking. I heard rustling and assumed it was him nearby as I crawled through the rasberry brush. It got too dark to see the blood spatterings so I stopped, left my hat and gloves to mark the spot and went to my car for my flashlight. The battery was dim, so I went to a Food Lion and bought new batteries. Then I returned. I retrieved my hat and gloves and resumed trailing. The trail just stopped about 30 yards away from where I had shot him. I felt I was being watched and one time when I stood up I thought I heard a growl but I saw nothing, but kept the carbine in my hand (which is a real pain in rasberry brush). Visions of being gored by a dying buck determined to take his tormentor with him danced through my head as did memories of other hunters who had experienced exactly that. (As I said, the joy of black powder hunting.) Anyhoo I did the spiral out trick from just before the blood trail stopped and found nothing. At about 10:30 I gave up for the night and went home. I returned early the next morning and easily found the spot I had lost the trail at. It ended near a large Maple tree. In the morning sun the puddle of blood under the tree looked much larger than it had the evening before and as I watched a drop plopped into the puddle. I looked up and on a branch about 15 feet up was the carcass of my heart shot deer. It took awhile, but I got it down. Something had bitten off the butt and a haunch of the deer (about a 6 inch bite, two of them, one right through the pelvic bone). At least 5 to 10 pounds of my otherwise nice deer was missing. A game warden was notified by the gun store where I checked the deer, but he refused to come look and insisted it had to have been a dog(?!?) as there are no cougars left in VA. A few weeks later some woman told the Washington Post she had seen a cougar in woods alongside the beltway at Tyson's Corner, VA about 50 miles from where I had my experience.

 

This week

From MSNBC/Washington Post

 

Mountain lions move east

Big cats stir worries on prairie

By Blaine Harden

The Washington Post

Updated: 10:21 p.m. ET Dec. 16, 2004

 

MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa - "Iowa is the state with the highest mountain lion hysteria."

 

So explained Ron Andrews, furbearer resource specialist for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

 

His standing-room-only audience was mostly farmers and their wives, weatherworn men with feed caps, sturdy women with sensible shoes. They looked more suspicious than hysterical. They had crowded into a community center here in the heart of hog and corn country to find out the skulking particulars on the world's fourth-largest cat.

 

State records show that mountain lions disappeared from Iowa in 1867. But with increasing and unnerving regularity, the ambush predator -- which will kill and eat house pets, livestock and humans but much prefers deer -- is back on the prowl, in Iowa and across the Midwest. It is turning up on farms, in suburbs and even in occasional appearances downtown.

 

In the past 12 months, 19 have been shot, killed with arrows, hit by trains, run over by cars, captured, photographed or detected through DNA evidence of their midwestern travels, according to the Cougar Network, a group that monitors eastward movement of the cats.

 

The presence of the mountain lions, many of which have been found with freshly killed deer in their stomachs, is a startling signal that modern suburban and exurban America -- without intending to do so -- has transformed itself into superb wildlife habitat. With deer nearly everywhere, the big cats, it seems, are finding haute cuisine in the land of big-box stores.

 

Last year, one ran through downtown Omaha. Last month, one was shot in the suburbs of Sioux City. This month, a radio-collared mountain lion was spotted in the outskirts of Grand Forks, N.D. One was photographed in mid-October on a farm near Marshalltown in central Iowa, a confirmed sighting that deeply disturbed people at the recent meeting here.

 

State game officials say mountain lions have triggered widespread paranoia, with many Iowans worrying about the beasts in an excessive and unhealthy way. False sightings are rampant. Scouting groups have canceled field trips. At mountain lion briefings conducted by game officials across Iowa, farmers have announced that they no longer go out at night to tend livestock -- without a gun.

 

"I hear something screeching in the night in the woods outside my porch," Jan Chantland, a farm wife, complained at the meeting here. "It just sends chills up my spine."

 

Black helicopters

There are also rumors across the Midwest that state game agencies -- sometimes using black helicopters -- are secretly planting mountain lions in farm country. Before the Marshalltown meeting began, these rumors danced around the community center. Andrews, the state's leading expert on mountain lions, began his slide presentation by attacking the rumors head-on.

 

"We did not, we have not and we will not release mountain lions in Iowa," said Andrews, who handed out a document that repeated the denial in boldface type.

 

The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, in state documents, also denies involvement in mountain lion reintroductions. The rumors and official denials are rife, too, in Missouri, where wildlife officials say that hunters fear the state is smuggling in mountain lions to shorten the deer-hunting season.

 

Farmers and ranchers, as an enduring rule, hate mountain lions, which are also called cougars, pumas, panthers and catamounts. By any name, until recent decades, they were treated as no-good varmints and killed for bounty, for fun, for Manifest Destiny. The cats disappeared from the Midwest by about 1900.

 

Their unwelcome comeback in the Corn Belt, which began about a decade ago and has steadily gathered momentum, is being driven by two historically significant biological phenomena, wildlife ecologists say.

 

First, there are probably more mountain lions in the continental United States now than before European settlement (more than 31,000, by one recent estimate). The resurgence began in the 1960s, when several western states, where mountain lion populations had been reduced but never wiped out, changed the legal status of the cats from varmint to big game, with limited or no hunting.

 

The number of mountain lions, as a result, began to exceed the carrying capacity of the land, especially in the Front Range of the Rockies in Colorado and in the Black Hills of western South Dakota. Young males were forced -- on penalty of death, imposed by highly territorial older males -- to go forth and establish new territory, wildlife biologists say.

 

Second, there are more white-tailed deer in the United States than before European settlement (estimates now range from 20 million to 33 million), with huge and increasingly unhunted populations in rural and suburban areas east of the Mississippi. The regrowth of eastern forests offers cover for deer, and succulent suburban shrubbery offers year-round food.

 

Young male mountain lions -- called "dispersers" by scientists -- seem to be following their appetites east. Moving along wooded river corridors, they can travel 50 to 100 miles in a night. They swim well; several appear to have crossed the Mississippi. One radio-collared male from western South Dakota was hit by a train this summer near the Kansas-Oklahoma border, having traveled an estimated 950 miles.

 

The inexorable result of this dispersal, according to Paul Beier, a professor of wildlife ecology at Northern Arizona University and an authority on mountain lion interaction with human beings, will be increasing conflict between cats and people.

 

'Sooner or later'

Beier said these conflicts, commonplace in Rocky Mountain cities such as Boulder, Colo., and Bozeman, Mont., are beginning to occur in the Midwest and can be expected soon in the deer-infested suburbs of the East Coast.

 

"Dispersers are going to keep moving east," Beier said. "Most will die quickly, killed on highways, but there are going to be a couple who will hang on long enough to kill somebody in a back yard. I suspect it will be on the order of one human every 10 years. We do know it will be more than a non-zero risk. When people and cats share the same land space, somebody is going to be bit sooner or later."

 

It is exceedingly rare for a mountain lion to kill a human being. In the past 110 years, the cats have attacked 66 people and killed 18 in the United States and Canada, according to figures compiled by Iowa's Department of Natural Resources. Fatal attacks are far less common than fatal bee stings or lightning strikes.

 

But the annual rate of mountain lion attacks has increased sharply since 1970, from one to four attacks a year, and more than half of the known fatalities have occurred since 1990. As David Baron documented in "The Beast in the Garden," his book about mountain lions in Boulder, the trend is clear: As wildlife invade suburbs, mountain lions are increasingly accustomed to living around and stalking people.

 

"Lion attacks and close encounters have become a recurrent fact of life" in parts of Colorado, Baron writes.

 

Beier, the wildlife ecologist, says many westerners are aware that the cats pose some personal risk but they are willing to accept it.

 

"We are enormously more tolerant toward predators in this country than we used to be," Beier said. "It is part of a major sea change in the way Americans value wildlife."

 

That tolerance, however, does not seem to be in generous supply in Iowa and much of the Midwest. The comeback of the cats in Iowa has not prompted the state legislature to protect mountain lions or to categorize them as game animals.

 

They remain varmints, unprotected by any law, and Iowans can shoot them at their leisure.

 

At the mountain lion briefing here, Andrews instructed Iowans on what to do if they have a close encounter with a cat and do not have a gun. Raise your hands and try to "appear large and threatening," he said, adding that if the animal attacks, it is often useful to "fight back vigorously."

 

The cats like to kill by biting prey in the back of the neck, so it is not useful to run.

 

After explaining this to the silent, wide-eyed farmers, Andrews said: "Don't be held hostage. Continue to enjoy the outdoors."

© 2004 The Washington Post Company

Link to comment
In my younger days I use to cross country ski in the Olympics above Quilcene Washington. One day we rounded a curve on a trail and there about 50 yards ahead of us, across a small stream was a large cougar playing with some sort of animal. We must have been down wind as he never noticed us. He would toss it in the air and then pounce on it. We watched him for a while and then continued on our tour. At Lake Cushman in the Olympics a young cat attacked the small dog of a couple looking for a cache. They were able to drive it off and even took pictures of it. Probably a young inexperienced male that liked dog food. Dick, W7WT

Man Dick that's so cool you got to see that!!!!! Some people spend all their lives and never see a big cat, let alone seeing it do something like that. I finally saw one this summer with Adena...Cache Ahead back of Granite falls....we were up on some old roads and it ran across the road.

Link to comment

It's interesting that attacks on humans talked about here were humans riding bicycles. Is it possible that the cat thought that funny looking animal was running from them, hence triggered the killer instiinct.

 

I recently saw a documentary on panthers. This poor young panther was quite hungry and came upon on cattle. A nice young calf came walking over to the fence to see what this thing (our panther) was. The poor panther didn't know what to do since the calf showed no fear and didn't run. The panther wandered off and left the calf alone. Maybe there's something to be learned here.

 

Byron

Link to comment
It's interesting that attacks on humans talked about here were humans riding bicycles. Is it possible that the cat thought that funny looking animal was running from them, hence triggered the killer instiinct.

 

I recently saw a documentary on panthers. This poor young panther was quite hungry and came upon on cattle. A nice young calf came walking over to the fence to see what this thing (our panther) was. The poor panther didn't know what to do since the calf showed no fear and didn't run. The panther wandered off and left the calf alone. Maybe there's something to be learned here.

 

Byron

Exactly! When you see a big cat, you need to stand your ground and make yourself large...wave your arms and throw rocks at it. YOu can back away but slowly and don not, I repeat, do not lose eye contact with the lion.

 

This is different from bear encounters. Staring incites agression with them. With lions, it itimidates.

Link to comment

We still have the Florida Panthers here and I've seen 2 while geocaching.

 

Unfortunately the first one was roadkill :lol:

 

The second was just recently during a caching hike deep into a mitigation park, it was about 100 yards from us and it bolted as soon as it saw us. Didn't even have a chance to reach for my camera.

 

There are believed to be less than 100 left. Great Website on the Florida Panther

Link to comment
The potential problem with Mountain Lions in the west was discussed in detail last year (or early this year) when the mountain biker was killed by a cougar in CA. However, this recent article Mountain lions on the prowl once again from USAToday talks about the animal moving east of the Mississippi. Do you think this will be a problem for geocachers? Is this something that you welcome or do you feel it should be stopped? Tell us how you really feel ...

I would love for Mountain Lions to re-establish in the ADKs, I have seen bobcats while hiking in the woods, and lynx tracks, and love the thought of other big cats coming into our woods.

 

nfa-jamie

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...