Mountain Lions Moving East

[+nfa]

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.

 

I don't relish the idea of becoming prey.

What potential prey does?

 

Seriously though, the chances of ever running across a mountain lion are pretty small, and unless you corner a mother and baby, it would most likely run away. Not many people get killed and eaten by large mammals in the Northeastern part of the USA...

 

You should be much more afraid of your car, various parts of your heart, your ladder, your neighbors and their dogs, the bacon/butter/beer in your fridge, and the ciagrettes or cigars in your pocket than a mountain lion attack...

 

Care to guess on the number of people killed by mountain lions in the US in the last 20 years???

 

nfa-jamie

Edited December 17, 2004 by NFA

[dsandbro]

I live right in the heart of mountain lion country. I can see sign any time I go out in the woods. With care and attention I can observe 2-3 lions per year on my hikes. I have never felt threatened or concerned.

 

Yes, they are a potential threat. With the usual precautions you needn't be any more concerned of lions than rattlesnakes, spiders, or poison oak.

[+ziatriguy]

I saw one very near a cache in SE New Mexico just this week. I pulled up near the cache site and stopped. I saw movemenet that I thought was a mule deer. I had seen several that morning.

 

There it was, bounding up the hill and going over the top. It looked beautiful! Thats only the third mountain lion I have ever seen.........I wonder how many were there that I didn't see.........

[+clearpath]

Care to guess on the number of people killed by mountain lions in the US in the last 20 years???

 

I'm going to guess ... 6 3/4.

[+briansnat]

What potential prey does?

 

Most prey doesn't know it is.

[+ziatriguy]

Care to guess on the number of people killed by mountain lions in the US in the last 20 years???

 

nfa-jamie

Actually I can think of three confirmed deaths in the last two years...and those were in just two states.

[+briansnat]

Lists of mountain lion attacks in North America:

 

1890-1990

1990-2001

2001-present

 

Note that the more recent, the more attacks there are.

[+Team Perrito Blanco]

Pumas and humans are just not compatible species. The area east of the Mississippi is too densely populated to allow them to live here. And if they do start appearing here, legally or not, they will be hunted.

 

Good find Brian.

[+clearpath]

Lists of mountain lion attacks in North America:

 

1890-1990

1990-2001

2001-present

 

Note that the more recent, the more attacks there are.

Wow, I had no idea ... Thanks for the info. Part of me really likes the idea of having the cats around. However, reading about a mom who died while fighting off a cougar after it attacked her son is, well, morbid.

19 August. A British Columbia mother was killed defending her 6-year-old. *35 or 36-year-old Cindy Parolin and three of her four children, were trail riding on horseback near Princeton, British Columbia, when their horses became increasingly nervous. A mountain lion suddenly jumped from a bush at the 6-year-old son. The boy was thrown from his horse and was attacked by the mountain lion. The mother leapt from her horse and clubbed the lion away from her son with a branch she was able to break off. Then she continued to fight the animal and instructed her two other children to drag the injured youngster to the safety of their car and then get help. Finally, her older son found an armed camper, Jim Manion, who was led to the scene. He found Cindy still fighting more than an hour later. Much of her upper torso had been consumed. It was amazing she was still alive. She asked if her children were OK, and when Jim said yes, she said in a half-whisper, "I am dying now," and she collapsed.

[CoyoteRed]

However, reading about a mom who died while fighting off a cougar after it attacked her son is, well, morbid.

There is more to that story.

On August 19, a fourth puma who might have been dumped pounced on six-year-old Steven Parolin's foot as he rode horseback with his brother David, 13, sister Melissa, 12, and mother Cindy 37, near Princeton, B.C. Once again it was an uncharacteristic broad daylight attack noteworthy for ineptitude.

"My mom screamed," recounted David Parolin. "Then she jumped off her horse and jumped on the cougar." David and Melissa dragged Steven away and fetched help, but armed rescuers didn't reach the scene for an hour, by which time Cindy Parolin was fatally wounded. Yet unable to finish her off, the puma merely stood by, ignoring warning shots, until driven back by a dog and dispatched by shotgun.

The two-year-old male puma, though apparently not sick, was emaciated, in the midst of abundant elk, deer, rabbits, and squirrels.

A three-year-old pet puma severely mauled a two-year-old Toronto girl on August 27, hours after her father brought the puma home from a game farm. Publicity about the incident may have panicked someone else into dumping a pet puma, as less than a week later a month-long string of puma sightings commenced in the suburbs of Scarboro and Pickering. That puma may finally have wandered out of town, as sightings ceased after September 27. A puma repeatedly seen at large last August on Long Island, New York, however, had no way to get out of developed areas, yet apparently vanished without a trace.

Former pet pumas are even a problem in Oklahoma, says the state Wildlife Department, struggling to refute rumors that it is clandestinely reintroducing pumas to the wild. "People who see mountain lions are seeing animals which were once pets," a Wildlife Department advisory explained last November. "There may be a few mountain lions out there, but they weren't put there by us."

 

From this site claiming the cat was a released pet. Don't know how much to believe, but big cats can get to be a bigger problem than a would-be owner would like.

[+briansnat]

However, reading about a mom who died while fighting off a cougar after it attacked her son is, well, morbid.

There is more to that story.

On August 19, a fourth puma who might have been dumped pounced on six-year-old Steven Parolin's foot as he rode horseback with his brother David, 13, sister Melissa, 12, and mother Cindy 37, near Princeton, B.C. Once again it was an uncharacteristic broad daylight attack noteworthy for ineptitude.

"My mom screamed," recounted David Parolin. "Then she jumped off her horse and jumped on the cougar." David and Melissa dragged Steven away and fetched help, but armed rescuers didn't reach the scene for an hour, by which time Cindy Parolin was fatally wounded. Yet unable to finish her off, the puma merely stood by, ignoring warning shots, until driven back by a dog and dispatched by shotgun.

The two-year-old male puma, though apparently not sick, was emaciated, in the midst of abundant elk, deer, rabbits, and squirrels.

A three-year-old pet puma severely mauled a two-year-old Toronto girl on August 27, hours after her father brought the puma home from a game farm. Publicity about the incident may have panicked someone else into dumping a pet puma, as less than a week later a month-long string of puma sightings commenced in the suburbs of Scarboro and Pickering. That puma may finally have wandered out of town, as sightings ceased after September 27. A puma repeatedly seen at large last August on Long Island, New York, however, had no way to get out of developed areas, yet apparently vanished without a trace.

Former pet pumas are even a problem in Oklahoma, says the state Wildlife Department, struggling to refute rumors that it is clandestinely reintroducing pumas to the wild. "People who see mountain lions are seeing animals which were once pets," a Wildlife Department advisory explained last November. "There may be a few mountain lions out there, but they weren't put there by us."

 

From this site claiming the cat was a released pet. Don't know how much to believe, but big cats can get to be a bigger problem than a would-be owner would like.

The story says "might have been". They have no proof.

[+nfa]

Lists of mountain lion attacks in North America:

 

1890-1990

1990-2001

2001-present

 

Note that the more recent, the more attacks there are.

Wow!

 

I had read that there were in the neighborhood of 1-3 attacks per year in the USA, with only a small fraction of those leading to deaths...I stand corrected, Brian...nice find

 

I would still like to see them reintroduced into any parts of their original range that would make sense (like the Adirondacks maybe???)...I think we have enough space here to allow them to safely coexist with humanity.

 

nfa-jamie

Edited December 20, 2004 by NFA

[CoyoteRed]

The story says "might have been". They have no proof.

Tis true. I don't think I'd be worrying too much about the origins beating that sucker to get it off my back.

 

The site did give me the feel of some advocacy group.

[+nfa]

Lists of mountain lion attacks in North America:

 

1890-1990

1990-2001

2001-present

 

Note that the more recent, the more attacks there are.

Wow!

 

I had read that there were in the neighborhood of 1-3 attacks per year in the USA, with only a small fraction of those leading to deaths...I stand corrected, Brian...nice find

 

I would still like to see them reintroduced into any parts of their original range that would make sense (like the Adirondacks maybe???)...I think we have enough space here to allow them to safely coexist with humanity.

 

nfa-jamie

Hi,

 

Found thea quote that I was trying to remember yesterday while reading over this discussion...

 

"The essence of true wilderness is big mammals that can eat you." - Ed Abbey

 

nfa-jamie

Edited December 20, 2004 by NFA

[+Flag_Mtn_Hkrs]

I live in Arizona, Flagstaff to be exact. We have lions coming into town on a regular basis. There are sightings on trails around town and a few dogs have been attacked but no people as of yet.

 

I am always hiking solo in the woods and when I am in prime lion habitat I keep an eye out and am always aware of my surroundings. I have gotten a bit freaked out a couple of times thinking how easy it would be for a big lion to just pounce down off of some rock, or out of some tree to attack and eat me. They regularly take down local deer and elk, and I am sure they fight a lot harder than I ever could.

 

I just follow these suggestions from Mountain Lion Tips.

 

Arizona is supposed to have the largest population in the US because of all the open space and good habitat. I think if you just follow the suggestions that you will probably live to geocache another day.

[+clearpath]

I live in Arizona, Flagstaff to be exact. We have lions coming into town on a regular basis. There are sightings on trails around town and a few dogs have been attacked but no people as of yet.

 

I am always hiking solo in the woods and when I am in prime lion habitat I keep an eye out and am always aware of my surroundings. I have gotten a bit freaked out a couple of times thinking how easy it would be for a big lion to just pounce down off of some rock, or out of some tree to attack and eat me. They regularly take down local deer and elk, and I am sure they fight a lot harder than I ever could.

 

I just follow these suggestions from Mountain Lion Tips.

 

Arizona is supposed to have the largest population in the US because of all the open space and good habitat. I think if you just follow the suggestions that you will probably live to geocache another day.

Great info thanks for sharing.