What’s amazing is not that cougars attack people
but that it doesn’t happen more often.
—Dave Eyer, Eyer Training Services
Clarence Hall saw the cougar lying at the base of a spruce tree twelve metres (forty feet) away. It appeared to be sleeping. Confident it hadn’t noticed him, he quickly headed back to his truck. He was about eighteen metres (sixty feet) from the vehicle when it felt like a baseball bat struck him hard on the left side of his neck.
“There was no noise, I never heard it coming,” he said. “But within a split second I was pulled onto my back and felt a warm trickle of blood filling my left ear. The cougar’s canine teeth were fully embedded as it shook my head the way it would to kill prey.”
A bricklayer by trade, Hall had been tracking cougars for more than thirty years and was on contract with the Ministry of Environment to hunt problem predators. That winter, ten cougars had been shot in the Bella Coola Valley on British Columbia’s central coast. So Hall wasn’t surprised when a conservation officer called to say a cougar had killed a dog on the Nuxalk reserve. Hall arranged for his grandson-in-law to come by to pick up six of his redbone and black and tan hounds and headed to the reserve to scout out the situation.
It was close to 10:00 a.m. on January 24, 2000, when he arrived at the residence of Cecilia Mack and her adult son, Barry. Barry showed Hall where the cougar had killed his dog. It was below freezing with a skim of fresh snow on the ground so while Barry went inside to put on some warmer clothes, Hall considered his options. The cougar had been shot at eight hours previously and the dog’s body had been brought inside, so he figured the cat was long gone. Also, he wasn’t sure about the protocol of carrying a rifle on the reserve and so left his .30-06 in the truck. “That was my first mistake,” Hall admitted. “The second was turning my back on the cougar.”
Now, the seventy-four-year-old was flat on his back with two of the cougar’s canines in his scalp, one in the side of his neck and the other piercing his throat five centimetres (two inches) from his jugular vein.
Hall recalled a day long ago when a dog trainer told him that if he was ever attacked by a dog to place his hands behind its bottom canine teeth to seize control of the jaw. Without hesitating he put the thumb, forefinger and middle finger of his right hand into the cougar’s mouth. “Very easily I pushed downwards on the lower jaw releasing the teeth from my neck and pushed upwards releasing the upper canines as well,” he said. Worried that the cougar would rip his belly open with its claws, which were draped over his torso, Hall placed his left arm over the cougar’s front legs and squeezed them against his chest as hard as he could.
He’d started yelling for help as soon as the cougar attacked but didn’t know if anyone could hear him. And although he’d gained control of the cat’s jaw, his hand was being mangled. “I decided to take my hand out of the cougar’s mouth, throw my right arm over its neck, then push its pug nose into the snow as hard as I could until it quit breathing,” he said. “But as soon as I removed my hand, the cougar started chewing on the top of my head. I knew this was a life and death struggle and only one of us was going to survive.”
As Barry came back outside he heard Hall shouting and saw man and beast locked in a bloody embrace. The twenty-year-old dashed into the house for his rifle. When Hall noticed Barry with his small .22 Hornet, he called, “Come closer, closer,” afraid he’d be hit by a bullet as he wrestled with the cougar. Barry was only thirty centimetres (a foot) away when he pulled the trigger four times.
“I didn’t hear the shots, I just felt the cougar jerk and become still,” Hall said. He had to pry the cougar’s teeth from his skull before he could stand up. After steadying himself for a moment he walked to the house with Barry. “I was going to drive myself to the hospital but had lost my keys in the struggle,” he said. “Then Chris King pulled up and gave me a ride.”
Although Hall nearly lost his right hand and underwent three hours of surgery, during which he received more than a hundred stitches, he bears few physical scars from his ordeal. There’s a mark where one of the cat’s teeth punctured his skull and part of a vein in his left arm is permanently collapsed due to the force of his grip on the cougar’s legs.
Hall attributes his survival to keeping a cool head and knowing what to do. And despite his age and slight build, he was wiry and strong, whereas the six-year-old cougar only weighed thirty-six kilograms (eighty pounds), about two-thirds the normal weight for a cat that age. Also, even though it’s not unusual for cougars to eat porcupines, the female’s gums, paws, forelegs and chest were loaded with quills. Hall knew if the cougar had been healthy or a large male, he might not have made it. Either way, he wouldn’t be alive if Barry hadn’t shown up with his rifle.
Clarence Hall, shown here with his wife and hounds, had been tracking cougars for thirty years when he was attacked by one in 2000. He used a tip from a dog trainer to prevent the cougar from killing him until help arrived. Photo by Rick James
It’s extremely unusual to see a cougar and even more so to be attacked by one. People are much more likely to be injured or killed in a motor vehicle accident, yet most Canadians and Americans are around cars every day. Collisions are avoided by paying attention to what’s going on and using tools such as seatbelts, child safety restraints and airbags in case an accident does occur. Most people employ these precautions without even thinking about them. And that same common sense should be present whenever a person is in cougar country.
The first step is to be aware of the environment. Abnormally noisy birds or an abrupt silence—like one woman noticed just before a cougar grabbed her small dog—can indicate the presence of predators. Likewise, a gathering of ravens, jays, crows or eagles may mean they’re scavenging a nearby cougar prey carcass. No matter where a person is, the outdoors has its own community of creatures. For them, survival means knowing who’s in the neighbourhood and what they’re up to. If a person is observant, they can pick up clues from wildlife and birds’ behaviour. And it’s easier to tune in to what type of song the birds are singing—or not—if you aren’t looking at a mobile device or using headphones.
Just as it’s prudent to look both ways before crossing a street, people in rural and wilderness areas should be aware of the signs of animal life around them. But humans seldom see cougars. Their coats blend in with most landscapes and they’re masters of silence and stealth, adept at seeing without being seen. In Animal Dialogues, author Craig Childs mentioned a thirty-six-kilogram (eighty-pound) mountain lion that walked through the Arizona desert making less sound than Childs’ fingers did running through the sand. Jessie Dickson and a friend were hiking in Alum State Park in California and were within a metre and a half (five feet) of a mountain lion before they noticed it. The only reason they saw the cat was because it turned its head to watch them.
It’s not unusual for radio-collared cougars in California to be tracked crossing golf courses, entering backyards or watching people as they walk on trails. “If you spend any time in the woods, I can almost guarantee that you’ve been close to a lion and not known it,” said Walter Boyce, wildlife veterinarian and professor at University of California, Davis. What people are most likely to see is the orange, red or green eyeshine of a big cat in the dark or the tip of its long cylindrical tail as it leaps across a trail or road.
Although secretive and discreet, cougars do leave physical signs of their presence if a person knows what to look for. Cat tracks are wider than those of canines and the four toes are closer to the pad, which has three distinct lobes in the rear. A table in Cougar: Ecology and Conservation indicates an adult male’s paw may be as long as ten centimetres (four inches) and nearly as wide. Because their claws are retractable, they are rarely seen in tracks.
A large male cougar’s paw may be ten centimetres (four inches) long and nearly as wide. The cat’s toes are closer to the pad than a canine’s and the pad has three distinct lobes at the rear. Bear and canine paw prints usually show marks from their nails; cougars normally travel with their claws retracted so claw marks are seldom seen. Photo courtesy Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
A walk in the woods might also reveal drag marks where a cougar has moved its prey or a pile of leaves and debris where it has cached a carcass. Cougars bury their scat, which is usually segmented with rounded ends, so it is seldom noticed. But males will scrape up dirt and leaves then urinate or defecate on them. These piles serve as territorial markers warning other males to stay away. A female in heat may urinate on such piles to signal her availability. Cougars also rake their claws on trees and logs as a way of communicating amongst themselves. Creating these scrape piles and scratch marks is similar to a person posting a “No Trespassing” sign on a fence or signing in on an online dating website.
Odours can also provide an indication about what’s going on outdoors. The scent of spoiling meat may signal a cougar’s prey cache, and the big cats have their own peculiar smell. Craig Childs mentioned a strong scent like “sex, fur and sweat.” In “A Mountain Lion Visits,” Carmen Lucas described “a very strong, yet strange odor” she noticed while outside in southern California. And despite four decades of working in the bush, tracks in the snow and a “rank, catch in the back of the throat smell that bypassed logic and said danger right down the spine” convinced Harold Macy to leave his Vancouver Island woodlot and head home for the day. Which brings up a good point: whether you’re walking down a dark alley late at night or strolling through the woods, pay attention to your intuition. If you hear or see something suspicious, or just get a funny feeling, leave the area.
And this care and attention isn’t only required in remote areas. Many people think cougars only attack humans in the wild backcountry, but nearly half of all human-cougar altercations take place near urban centres, often along trails and rivers, as well as in campgrounds and parks. In “Cougar Attacks in British Columbia: Early 1800s–2006,” Dave Eyer noted the top locations for attacks were in the bush, on a trail and at or near a house, followed by beaches, lakes, rivers and creeks. People who live in rural or wilderness regions need to consider the possibility of a wildlife encounter at all times, even if they’re just taking a quick walk with the dog or relaxing in the backyard.
The Bear & Cougar Encounters Course Handbook used by Eyer Training Services recommends employing four layers of protection: avoidance, awareness, behaviour and deterrents. Avoidance means knowing if cougars are in the area and if there have been any recent sightings, encounters or attacks. If you see a cougar and it doesn’t notice you, that’s a sighting. If you’re both aware of each other, that’s an encounter, and an attack is any direct physical contact between a human and cougar or a human using a handheld implement such as a shovel or an axe at very close quarters to prevent contact.
If an attack has recently occurred and the cougar is still at large, the sensible plan is to avoid that location for a while. All parks in cougar habitat should have entrance signs advising, “Cougars frequent this area” or, as needed, “Cougar seen recently.” That lets people know they need to be more aware of sounds, sights and smells and to be extra vigilant when moving through forested, brushy trails or while visiting beaches and cleared spots adjacent to wooded areas—in other words, any environment that gives a cougar an opportunity to stalk and come close without being seen.
A key element of rural and wilderness safety is recognizing the difference between defensive and predatory behaviour and knowing how to respond appropriately. A defensive cougar might bare its teeth, growl or swat a paw at you. This is typical behaviour if a cougar feels threatened because its kittens are nearby, or its prey carcass is, or it is cornered with no avenue of escape. Stalking, following and circling with few or no signs of stress is predatory behaviour. A predatory cougar will be intently focused as it gauges the potential cost-benefit ratio of making an attack. As a general rule, if a cougar is agitated, a person should remain calm; if a cougar is calm, a person needs to immediately respond very aggressively.
Cougar kittens are born with a pattern of camouflaging spots which slowly fade away over the course of two years or so. The majority of cougar attacks are predatory but a female with cubs—no matter what their age or size—will defend them fiercely if she feels they’re threatened. Photo courtesy Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
Because cougars can move so quickly, Eyer recommends preparing your defence, then assessing the situation. If you catch a glimpse of a cougar as it runs away (non-aggressive behaviour), you can count yourself lucky to have seen one of these elusive creatures. But it’s also important to remain alert in case it circles around to stalk you. If a cougar exhibits defensive behaviour the appropriate response is to raise your arms in the air, speak calmly but firmly and slowly back away, being careful not to trip and fall and keeping to open ground as much as possible. These actions tell the cougar you are human and not a threat. Don’t aggravate the cat by lingering to watch it or take photos. And no matter what, never turn your back on a cougar, even if it appears not to see you. Make eye contact immediately and don’t break it; if you’re wearing sunglasses, remove them. Staring at an animal is a powerful form of aggression that informs it you are the dominant one. It’s also important to remember that eye contact between people and bears is totally different than eye contact between people and cougars. Most bear attacks are defensive and eye contact should be avoided; the majority of cougar attacks are predatory and eye contact is vital.
Like all cats, cougars are curious. Frank Hovenden worked in the bush as a forestry engineer for thirty years, yet only saw a cougar once. “I was pulling a chain [measuring device] uphill and happened to glance behind me,” he said. “There was a cougar batting at the end of the chain just like a house cat with a piece of yarn. We looked at each other for maybe twenty seconds then the cougar melted away into the bush . . . totally silent and invisible in seconds.”
A curious cougar can quickly turn into a dangerous one if it learns not to fear people or if a sudden movement triggers its chase and attack instinct. There are records of cougars following people for long distances and watching them for lengthy periods of time. Some evidence suggests they’ve observed household routines and determined when dogs will be left in easily accessed pens at night. Other times, tracks have indicated a cougar has anticipated a person’s movements—or perhaps learned from previous observation—and taken a shortcut through the woods to intercept them farther along a trail. There is speculation that cougars observe humans as a way of determining if they are prey or not. So a cougar that doesn’t immediately leave the area when it sees people should be considered dangerous.
If a cougar is watching or following you, that’s the time to stand your ground and prepare to defend yourself. “If a cougar exhibits predatory behaviour, a person must immediately act very aggressively,” said Dave Eyer. “They need to make a lot of noise, throw things and stand up if they’re not already doing so. This lets the cougar know it’s lost the element of surprise. It’s important to do this at the very beginning of an encounter. Cougars can move very quickly and if a person waits it might be too late to avert an attack.”
If two or more people are present they should stay close together to create a united front. Small children should be picked up and told not to cry or shriek as high-pitched sounds may be interpreted as a sign of prey in distress. Older children, short adults or people who might appear vulnerable should move behind the others. Everyone should put their arms over their heads to make themselves appear as large as possible. Waving a hat or jacket overhead also creates a sense of height. “This is the time to dominate the cougar with your voice, body language and actions,” explained Eyer in his two-day training course. “The cougar may be deciding whether it can kill someone and you want to convince it otherwise before it comes any closer. If a cougar is very close or even watching from a distance that is a dangerous sign.”
Everyone needs to act together to send the cougar a “don’t mess with us” message. They must convince the cat that an attack will require a significant outlay of energy and will result in serious injury to itself or possibly even death. No matter what, do not let the cat sense any fear. It is extremely important to project an image of dominance and confidence. Yell, stomp the ground and kick dirt or snow at the cougar. Aggressive tactics like these have convinced cougars to leave the area. Sometimes acting like an animal works too. While hunting with Buffalo Jones one time in the early 1900s, Zane Grey had to keep two cougars treed by himself. Every time they looked like they might jump down, he barked like a dog; in his words, he “bayed at them for an hour.”
More recently, twelve-year-old Colton Reeb headed to the outhouse around 6:30 p.m. on August 1, 2007. His family was camping with friends near Clinton, BC. When forty-five-year-old Marc Paterson heard the boy squeal he ran over and found a cougar mauling him. A former construction worker, Paterson kicked the cat as hard as he could with his heavy boots, but the cougar didn’t react so Paterson started choking it. The cougar released Reeb and Paterson’s dog joined the melee as the man and cat rolled around on the ground. When the cougar squirmed free, Paterson leapt to his feet. The cougar was about a metre (three feet) away, ears pinned to its head and eyes locked on him. Paterson raised his arms in the air and growled “like a grizzly bear.” The cougar left and was later shot by conservation officers at the site of the attack.
Throwing rocks and sticks is a good defence but bending to pick them up puts you in a vulnerable position. People have been attacked while crouching or squatting to tie a shoelace, look in a tidal pool or relieve themselves. In groups, only one person, preferably the tallest, should pick up items at a time. If possible, they should step behind others while doing so and grab several rocks or sticks to pass to others. This needs to be done quickly and with as much aggression as possible. Speak in a language cougars understand: bare your teeth, growl and act like you’re getting ready to spring into an attack. And don’t break eye contact. Cougars often close in when someone glances away—even for a second.
Predators observe potential prey’s body language and actions to determine if they are vulnerable or will be a formidable foe. Any sign of weakness, such as limping or lagging behind, will attract their attention. In Soul Among Lions, Harley Shaw wrote about a time in his Arizona research when he inadvertently separated a female cougar and her cubs. He took the three kittens back to Spider Ranch and kept checking the capture sight in hopes the mother would return. When she did, he tranquillized her and took her to the ranch so he could release the family together. As the female began to wake up, Shaw placed the kittens in her cage. But the cat’s wobbly, doped-up movements triggered their instincts and the kittens attacked her. Shaw rescued the mom and when he reunited the family the next day, the kittens showed no sign of aggression.
Noise can be a very effective deterrent. If a cougar is exhibiting predatory behaviour, everyone needs to yell as loudly as possible and to use air horns or whistles if they have them. In “Lessening the Impact of a Puma Attack on a Human,” a paper presented at the 7th Mountain Lion Workshop in May 2003 by Lee Fitzhugh, it was noted that the duration and intensity of noise is just as important as volume.
Air horns, whistles and bear spray are good cougar deterrents. And since cougars are masters at sneaking up close and then moving in quickly, all defense gear should be worn on holsters or lanyards outside outer clothing, not carried in backpacks or tucked under jackets. Photo by Paula Wild
One day in the fall of 1999, Bob Evans was enjoying a pleasant afternoon in the woods. He was bent over, intent on filling his bucket with the chanterelle mushrooms found in that particular area of Quadra Island, BC. Then the sixty-nine-year-old noticed a motion out of the corner of his eye. He stood up, looked over a log and saw a cougar running away. “Great!” he thought. “I saw a cougar and it was going the other way.” Then his border collie began barking furiously. “I turned around and staring at me from between the roots of an overturned stump was a bigger cougar,” he said. “Because it was so large, especially the head, I thought it was a male and wondered if I’d interrupted something between him and a female.”
As the cougar leapt down from the stump and approached him, Evans picked up a three-metre (ten-foot) branch. He slowly backed away swinging the stick with his dog barking by his side. The cougar advanced steadily, remaining just beyond reach of his weapon. “I started to feel panicky and hoped I didn’t trip,” Evans said. “Then I remembered hearing voices in the distance. The floater jacket I was wearing had come with a whistle so I grabbed it and blew as loud and long as I could, hoping someone would recognize it as a distress signal.” Nobody showed up but the cougar left.
“Loud, continuous noise does have an effect on mountain lions,” says Marc Kenyon of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. “It tells them to back off.” Kenyon studied the big cats while attending the Universities of Montana and California and has extensive personal experience with the predators. “Every negative stimulus can be broken down into intensity and duration,” he explained. “If it’s high intensity but short duration, chances are a cougar will think, ‘I can live with that.’ It’s like if one of your neighbours plays loud music every once in a while, you can probably live with it. But if someone jabs you with a pin continuously, you’re not going to put up with it. That high intensity and long duration stimulates you to react.
“If someone fires a few shots in the ground, that’s high intensity but not long enough duration,” he continued. “It will probably startle the cougar and make it pay more attention to the person. But if someone fires multiple shots—say ten shells in rapid succession—that’s high intensity and long duration and usually exceeds a lion’s comfort zone. Air horns are real loud and can last a long time.”
But there are a couple of instances in which noise can attract a cougar rather than repel it. One is the high-pitched voices of children and the other is a hunter using some sort of call to lure game. On a hunting excursion with his son Travis, Dave Eyer took along a deer call and tried the buck grunting sound. After each of the three calls, Travis heard a sound like a stick breaking behind them but no buck appeared. When they hiked out they saw the paw prints of a cougar and realized it had responded to the call.
Another way to deter a mountain lion is to aggressively run toward it, being careful to remain out of reach. “In some instances charging a mountain lion has convinced it to leave the area,” Kenyon said. “One night around 10:00 p.m., I was patrolling a campground and noticed a mountain lion lying down cleaning itself next to a tent filled with giggling twelve-year-old girls. I was six feet away with a flashlight but it didn’t assess me as a threat and ignored me. So I ran towards it screaming.”
The lion ran off but stopped after four and a half metres (fifteen feet) to look back at Kenyon. He shot it with a rubber slug from his shotgun and chased it some more. “Mountain lions don’t like an animal or person to be higher than they are,” he said. “They attack by jumping on their prey’s back so maybe they think, ‘Hey, this thing could jump down and try to kill me. This could be energetically costly so I’ll just leave.’ As I chased the lion, every chance I got, I jumped up on some rocks so I was higher than it. The lion would take off a short ways and get up on a log or something so it was higher than me. We played this game for about twenty minutes, until I didn’t feel comfortable being so far away from the camp.”
There is one situation where being higher is not an advantage. Cougars kill horses and some even develop a preference for the meat. But in the Bear & Cougar Encounters Course Handbook, Eyer pointed out that “unlike bears, cougars usually see the horse and rider as two very different creatures.” As of 2013, there were five documented cases of cougars attacking horseback riders in BC. In each case they were after the person, not the horse. If a rider is knocked or dragged off their horse by a cougar, one person should dismount and approach the cat with bear spray while the other riders remain mounted and prevent the horses from bolting. Using bear spray while mounted isn’t a good idea as it’s too easy for the horse to be affected as much as, or instead of, the cougar.
If a cougar doesn’t leave or comes closer after someone attempts to dominate it, it’s time to employ your weapons: ideally bear spray or a firearm. A cougar can cover twenty metres (sixty-five feet) in one second so, if you wait to see what it’s going to do, it may be too late. Bear spray comes in containers of different sizes that vary as to spray duration (four to nine seconds), reach (5.5 to 12 metres/18 to 40 feet), strength and cost. Eyer says each canister should last six seconds and spray a minimum of 7.6 metres (25 feet). Make sure the spray meets recommended government guidelines and is not out of date. It’s also a good idea to practise outside with inert spray or partially empty containers to get a feel for how they work. Flipping the safety latch on and off several times makes it easier to operate, too.
When using bear spray, the cougar must be close enough to be sprayed in the face. Short blasts, repeated as necessary, are better than emptying the can all at once. It’s easy, especially for an inexperienced person, to use too much spray too soon. Carrying two cans, or one for each person, ensures there is a backup. If you are downwind from the cougar try to shift your position so you don’t spray into the wind and end up inhaling the pepper concoction. If that isn’t possible, take a deep breath and close your eyes just before spraying then move quickly to the side. As the spray is released it makes a loud hissing noise, which may serve as a deterrent on its own. Always wear the canister on a belt outside all of your clothing as there likely won’t be time to retrieve it from a backpack or even from under a jacket. Anyone using a firearm must, of course, be trained in its use, have the appropriate licences and permits and be in a place where it is safe to shoot without the possibility of injuring others.
Knives save lives. According to Eyer, a person in cougar habitat should carry a fixed-blade knife that is 12.5 to 15 centimetres (5 to 6 inches) in length and has a rubber (or some other type of high friction) grip. The blade should be thick so it won’t snap if it hits bone. And it should always be sharp. Spend time trying out knives for heft, weight and grasp. A guard between the blade and the grip will prevent your fingers from possibly sliding down and being cut, and a hole in the grip for a wrist lanyard means less chance of losing the knife if it’s dropped or knocked out of your hand. The knife should be carried in a sheath on a belt, outside of all your clothing, and on the side of your stronger arm. This makes it easy to draw without taking your eyes off a predator. It also means you can probably still reach and use the knife if you’re knocked down and a cougar is on your back. Bear spray should be worn on your other hip and be positioned so you can draw it with your thumb on the release. A knife should always be your last line of defence when all other efforts to deter a cougar have failed. The primary goal is to stop the cougar before it gets close.
If a cougar runs or leaps at you, try to avoid the impact and remain on your feet. If physical contact is made, guard your head and neck with one arm while battling the cougar with the other. As Eyer said numerous times during his course, “Never play dead and never give up!” Do whatever you can to inflict pain and injury. If you don’t have any weapons and a cougar is on you, kick, bite and scratch. Shove a stick in its mouth, ear or nose or bash it with a rock. Focus your efforts on the front of its face, especially the eyes.
And that’s just what water quality specialist Susanne Groves did around noon on December 13, 1994. The twenty-five-year-old was standing in the Grass River in southwestern Colorado when she heard rustling on the bank above her. When she saw the mountain lion she thought it was merely curious and would soon leave. But the cat followed her into the shallow water. Groves yelled and splashed water at it but the big cat kept coming. When she slipped it grabbed her by the head and held her underwater. Groves broke free and made it as far as the bank before falling again. She grappled with the lion, managed to get on top of it and shoved her arm down its throat, pinning it to the ground. Then she pulled her forceps out of her fishing jacket and stabbed the lion in the eye. The cat ran off. Groves survived her injuries and an old, underweight female cougar with badly worn teeth was later shot nearby.
In late April 1998 Andy Peterson had spent the day on one of his favourite hiking paths at Carpenter Peak in Colorado. The twenty-four-year-old was on his way back to his vehicle when he saw a mountain lion under a ponderosa pine. Peterson didn’t think it had noticed him so he quietly began backing down the trail. To be on the safe side, he got his Swiss Army knife out of his fanny pack. But the knife made a snapping sound when he opened the blade, causing the lion to turn and stare at him. As a park ranger, Peterson knew what to do: he yelled, waved his arms and made himself look big. The lion charged but Peterson was able to avoid impact. But on the second charge, the lion knocked him three metres (ten feet) into the bushes. A river of blood ran down his face as the lion chewed on his skull. Peterson stabbed the cat but the knife didn’t penetrate its tough hide. Then Peterson realized there was a soft spot under his thumb. He plunged his thumb into the lion’s right eye. The cat made a loud noise and disappeared. Peterson rarely hikes anymore, and never alone. He also quit working as a park ranger.
Impressed by the stories a friend of the family told, George Pedneault started tracking cougars when he was in his early teens. Lizzie, shown here, is a special type of Airedale terrier bred to hunt large game. Although not as good at cold calling, this breed is considered exceptionally fearless and brave. Pedneault commissioned the carving he’s standing next to after being moved by the beauty of light on a cougar’s face as it climbed a tree in Rivers Inlet. Photo by Rick James
It’s very important to make every possible effort to deter a cougar as soon as possible. In “Factors Governing Risk of Cougar Attacks on Humans,” mountain lion researchers Dave Mattson, Kenneth Logan and Linda Sweanor noted that once a cougar is within one to five metres (three to sixteen feet), odds are it’s made up its mind to attack. A chart in Cougar Management Guidelines described crouching, tail twitching, intense staring, flattened ears and body low to the ground as pre-attack behaviours with high human risk. Each escalation between encounter and attack requires more vigorous intervention. And once a cougar has tackled its prey, it is loath to let go.
Being with others greatly reduces the odds of a fatality, although it won’t prevent an attack. Out of the 281 people attacked in Canada and the US, where it was known if they were with others or not, 87 (thirty-one percent) were alone and 129 (forty-six percent) were part of a group. And that’s not surprising, if you look at it from a cougar’s point of view. Cougars regularly attack deer. The cat picks its victim, stalks and chases it down, and then makes the kill while the rest of the herd runs away. Many people who have been attacked by cougars while in a group or who have gone to the rescue of others say the cougar looked surprised when someone intervened or the victim fought back.
“People need to respond very aggressively and immediately in this situation,” explained Eyer. “Victims have been saved by others running at the cougar, screaming or yelling at it, blowing a whistle, or waving an oar. If you run away or are paralyzed by fear, it is likely the victim, especially a child, will die. Ninety-nine percent of people who die from cougar attacks are alone. If you stay and fight, the probability is very high that the attack will end, the victim will live and you will not be seriously injured.”
Cougars become intensely fixated on their chosen victims. When a woman was attacked at a logging camp near Beaver Harbour on northern Vancouver Island in 1953, her husband rescued her and took her home as she wasn’t seriously injured. But when the woman and her husband left the house later, the cat attacked her again. Despite the presence of her husband and other people nearby, the cougar had waited for the woman to reappear.
Unlike bears, cougars seldom attack those who come to the rescue of someone else. In May 1985, Johnny Wilson was camping with his mother and aunt in Pacific Rim National Park. When a cougar attacked the boy, the women chased it off by yelling loudly. But the twelve-year-old was badly wounded and had blood spurting from an artery. The women attempted to stop the bleeding as the cougar circled around them for more than an hour, sometimes with its head less than thirty centimetres (a foot) from theirs. The women carried Wilson to the tent and the cougar ignored his aunt as she ran the five kilometres (three miles) to Pachena Point Lighthouse for help.
No matter what, a person that has been attacked should never be left alone while others go for help. In early August 1985, Lila Lifely heard a little girl scream. Lifely, a counsellor at YM/YWCA Camp Thunderbird, located near Sooke on southern Vancouver Island, was in charge of a few girls on a hike away from the camp. When she investigated the sound she found a cougar holding ten-year-old Alyson Parker by the head as it dragged her into the bushes. Lifely charged the cougar with a chunk of wood, screaming for all she was worth. The cougar initially backed off then went for Parker again. Lifely hit it and this time the cat disappeared into the bushes. The nineteen-year-old was on her way to get the first aid kit when she heard Parker moan. Looking back she saw the cougar standing over the girl. Lifely charged and hit the cougar a second time and it vanished into the forest. Not willing to leave Parker again, Lifely climbed a tree to yell for help. But even when others arrived, the cat continued to try to sneak up on the girl.
Parker was taken by vehicle to the nearest hospital and George Pedneault was called in with his tracking hounds. “That was a confusing one,” he recalled. Every time the cougar hunter let his hounds loose they wanted to go back down the road. Pedneault thought they were trailing the track backward and kept bringing them back to the attack site. But on the second day, he heard about reports to the RCMP of a cougar looking into car windows on Highway 14. “That crazy cat followed the girl even after she was in a vehicle; he was still looking for her,” said Pedneault. He shot the fat and healthy eighteen-month- to two-year-old male cougar a short time later.
Anyone living, working or recreating in cougar country runs a slight risk of being attacked, but certain factors increase the possibility. Being alone may make a person appear more vulnerable and it also boosts the odds of dying from an attack by as much as fifty percent. And cougars often, but not always, attack the smallest person. “They are always assessing the situation,” explained Marc Kenyon. “Are you disabled or moving slowly? Are you off by yourself or walking slower because you have a sprained ankle? All of these indicate vulnerability and make you look like easy prey. Mountain lions have evolved by trying to figure out which animal is going to peel off from the group to become an easy target.”
Six-year-old Dante Swallow was the smallest kid at his day camp near Missoula, Montana. He was also at the end of a long line of hikers and had fallen behind. When camp counsellor Aaron Hall heard a commotion behind him on July 31, 1998, he turned to see a mountain lion pulling the boy into the bushes by his head. The story in the book Cat Attacks doesn’t mention if Hall received training for this type situation, but the authors noted that, despite not having a weapon, the sixteen-year-old had attitude. Hall charged the mountain lion, kicking dirt in its face and booting it repeatedly in the ribs. When the cat released Swallow, Hall straddled the boy the way the lion had—in effect claiming the prey as his own—and stared at the animal fiercely. The lion rushed in, swiped at Hall and reached down to grab Swallow. That’s when Hall delivered a hard kick to its muzzle. The cat retreated about three metres (ten feet) and looked back. Hall charged it again and the lion left.
Even when hiking with others, people often step off the trail—alone—to relieve themselves. If you’re in high-risk cougar country a sensible solution is to have someone discreetly stand guard nearby. “Most people, especially women, squat to relieve themselves in or on the edge of the forest looking at the beach,” noted Shannon Bailey, who, along with her husband, owns property in Nuchatlitz Provincial Park on the BC coast and operates Sea Watch Cabins. “Squatting is a very vulnerable position. I tell visitors they should squat at the edge of the water on the beach and look at the tree line, not the other way around.”
Besides being alone or apart from a group, exhibiting prey behaviour by moving quickly or erratically increases the odds of an attack. In “Factors Governing Risk of Cougar Attacks on Humans” the authors noted that the level of activity doesn’t have to be intense to increase the risk, and that those engaged in some sort of active movement at the time of attack were twenty-eight percent more likely to die from a cougar attack than those who were more sedentary.
People who enjoy being active outdoors can minimize their risk by going on outings with others, being aware and being prepared. A bike can be held overhead to make a person appear larger or even used as a weapon or shield. And some joggers and mountain bikers wear masks with eyes on the back of their heads hoping to confuse cougars. This tactic has proved successful in the Ganges Delta in India where Bengal tigers kill many people each year. A 1988–89 experiment found that although tigers followed mangrove workers wearing masks, they didn’t attack them. In three years, no one wearing a mask was killed. But twenty-nine people who weren’t wearing masks died from tiger attacks within an eighteen-month period.
Signs like this one in the Grand Canyon National Park alert visitors that mountain lions frequent the area. Photo by Ian Hall
Cougars are active at all times of the day and night but are most active at night and during the hour or so just before and after dawn and dusk. A chart put together by the Mountain Lion Foundation shows cougar activity levels over a twenty-four-hour time period in southern Utah. At forty-three percent, dawn had the highest level of activity, with dusk a close second at forty-two percent. So in cougar country, it makes sense to avoid outdoor activities—especially those that make you look like prey—at night and around dawn and dusk.
Located on the west coast of Vancouver Island, Pacific Rim National Park Reserve includes three geographically separated units: Long Beach, the Broken Group Islands and the West Coast Trail. Sandy beaches, rocky bluffs, the open Pacific, whales and forested trails make the area a hiker’s and boater’s paradise. And some of the park, such as Long Beach, is readily accessible to even the most casual hiker. People travel from all over the world to experience this magical chunk of BC’s west coast. But cougars frequent the area and sightings and encounters within and near the park have increased in recent years.
In an effort to protect both people and predators in the area, staff devote a lot of time to public education and outreach. “The bottom line is wildlife evokes an emotional response from people that affects how they respond,” said Danielle Thompson, a resource management and public safety specialist at the Long Beach Unit of Pacific Rim National Park Reserve. “Some people don’t do anything, some forget everything they’ve been told and some follow a bear with their camera. Others have extreme fears about wildlife and don’t want to see any. What’s really important is for people to condition wildlife to avoid humans by yelling and acting aggressive. If people know the proper way to respond, it’s safer for them and the big cats.
“You can never eliminate the risk,” she added. “But people can go for their walk or jog later in the morning, earlier in the evening or with a partner. And they can be aware of their surroundings. Having small children in a beach area bordered by dense vegetation or forest is not ideal; it would be better to go somewhere where there are more people and less cover for carnivores to hide. The same goes for camping: if you pick a remote spot, chances are greater that you will see wildlife. And trekking the trails during the shoulder season when less people are around also increases the chance of an encounter.” And even though a study showed cougars tend to avoid paths that eighteen people or more use a day, many people have been attacked while hiking popular, well-used trails. It’s always wise to be aware and prepared.
A lot of people don’t believe cougars pose a threat to humans or discount the possibility that it could happen to them. But personal experience has a way of changing minds. Twenty-eight-year-old Lynda Walters was jogging in Four Mile Canyon west of Boulder, Colorado, when she noticed a mountain lion. It was June 2, 1990, and there had been complaints about lions killing pets in the area. Walters was thrilled to see a lion up close. Until its penetrating gaze made her uneasy. She stretched her arms up over her head and yelled. The lion crouched, flicked its tail and began to creep toward her.
Walters was alarmed as other wildlife had always run away from her. She threw rocks at the cat then caught a flash of movement and saw a second lion sneaking up behind her. She scrambled up a bank throwing rocks and sticks as she went. At the top she quickly climbed a ponderosa pine. Partway up she felt one of the lions scratch her leg as it came up after her. Instantly Walters recalled information from a martial arts course she’d taken. The instructor had stressed how much strength women have in their legs and encouraged them to abandon their inhibitions and be prepared to hurt their opponent. Walters stomped on the lion’s head, sending it to the ground. She climbed higher and felt the tree shake as the other lion began to climb the tree. Walters broke off a branch and jabbed it at the lion, yelling as she did so. After she repeated this manoeuvre twice, the lion left the tree.
It was 6:00 p.m. and although she could hear people in the distance, no one heard Walters’s cries for help. One of the cats tried climbing the tree again but she banged her stick and it backed down. She was terrified that both lions would come up and kill her as soon as it got dark. Then they all heard a slight noise across the gulch. It was a deer. The lions took off after it and Walters descended the tree and ran home. In his postscript to Beast in the Garden, David Baron noted that Walters was so disturbed by the incident that she moved to an area with wide open spaces where it was unlikely a mountain lion could sneak up on her.
Walters isn’t the first person to climb a tree to escape a predator. The trick is knowing what to do if it comes up after you. Using bear spray or hitting the animal in the nose with a sharp stick is a good line of defence. Other options include throwing whatever is in your pockets or backpack at it. Kicking a predator while in a tree should be a last resort. “Kick with your heel on the nose and quickly withdraw the foot,” Dave Eyer said. “A person must be lightning fast because a predator can bite and hold onto the foot, pulling them out of the tree. This can happen if the person is slow to withdraw their foot or if through their body language they let the cougar know this is what they are about to do. As always, bear spray is best. It causes pain and tells the predator the cost of this attack has just gone way up.”
Encountering more than one cougar is not that unusual. It’s often a case of young adults travelling with their mother or hunting together for a while after they’ve separated from her. In such situations, Eyer advises placing your back against a tree or bluff to prevent an attack from the rear and using bear spray or a gun. If you are using bear spray, wait until the cougars are about 3 to 3.5 metres (10 to 12 feet) away and then spray in bursts. If the cougars are on opposite sides of you, you’ll have to spray in more than one direction. Chances are, a nose or eyeful of spray will persuade them to leave.
Each cougar has its own personality and each situation has its own dynamics. Unfortunately, there’s no guarantee that following any guidelines to avoid or survive a cougar attack means a person will be successful. In each case, a person needs to use their knowledge of animal behaviour and their personal judgement and experience to assess the circumstances. Women have chased cougars off with brooms, umbrellas and tea towels; in other cases it has taken several men with axes to end an attack. What’s important is to use whatever resources are at hand and never give up. If what you’re doing doesn’t work, try something else.
It was just past noon on May 6, 2006, when a pine cone rolled down the hill and hit Hugh Faust’s shoe. The twenty-two-year-old university student was birding in Medicine Bowl National Forest in Wyoming. Then two red squirrels burst into loud chattering just up the trail. A few minutes later Faust saw the mountain lion. It was crouched low and staring at him from nine metres (thirty feet) away. The summer of 2004 Faust had worked in South Africa tracking, tranquillizing and studying big cats and other large mammals so he knew what to do. He whipped off his shirt and waved it, yelled and charged toward the lion. It ran to meet him and as they made contact, Faust bashed it in the head with his binoculars. By yelling and throwing sticks and rocks, he managed to keep the cat about a metre and a half (five feet) away. Whenever something hit the lion, it either closed it eyes briefly or looked at the object as it bounced off. Then it refocused its gaze on Faust. And each time he stopped yelling or waving his arms, the stare became more intent, and the cat tensed its muscles and its tail began to twitch.
Faust decided to move out of the aspen and conifer forest cover by crossing a gully into some sagebrush. He knew he’d have to break eye contact to cross the stream so before jumping he gathered some rocks. As he leapt, Faust threw a rock, hitting the lion in the head. But when he landed and looked back, he saw the lion in mid-pounce. He hit it in the head with another rock. As he worked his way further into the open country the lion dropped back. But every time Faust turned away or averted his eyes, it moved in quickly. When Faust reached his SUV the lion disappeared. Faust had used his best defence—his brains—to survive. He kept his wits about him, didn’t panic and fought his way to open ground and his vehicle.
Faust figures the encounter lasted ten minutes. “I kept eye contact throughout the whole ordeal, and feel I never scared the cat at all, but did stop it from making the final pounce,” he said. “I honestly thought it was going to pounce any second and believe it would have if I had even flinched on the initial rush, or ever presented an opportunity. I’ve tracked leopards, spotted hyenas, cheetahs, African lions, and African wild dogs on foot in South Africa and have never seen any animal this intent and persistent.”
The majority of attacks are unprovoked. Eighty percent of the time, people aren’t even aware of the cat before it attacks. And even if they do glimpse some movement, they rarely have time to take any defensive action. Fifty percent of victims need help to fight off a cougar.
In his awareness and defence courses, Dave Eyer advises enjoying the outdoors in a safe manner by employing the colour code of awareness. This method is often used by the military and police and is valuable whether a person is driving on the highway, hiking in the woods or walking a busy city street. Being in white means a person is lost in thought or engaged in conversation or an electronic device to such a degree that they have no awareness of their surroundings. When a person is in yellow they’re interested and observant. They may be working or talking but frequently scan the area and are aware of what’s taking place around them. They’re always half looking for tracks, disturbances in the ground or changes in the behaviour of wildlife. This colour is the safest level to be in, and it adds to the enjoyment of being outdoors. In the old days, most people who lived in rural areas or spent time in the woods acted this way as a matter of course. Today, it’s often referred to as being in the present moment.
In Dave Eyer’s Bear & Cougar Encounters course, people learn how to respond to predators and receive hands-on training in the use of bear spray, knives and other weapons while cardboard cutouts (such as the bear pictured here) charge them at real-life speeds. Photo by Johanna Bos
The third colour is orange, which means tracks have been seen, something has been smelled or heard or a person suddenly gets a funny feeling. This is the time to carefully observe the environment and consider the next step, such as leaving the area, alerting others to the possible presence of a cougar or preparing your defence. No matter how uneasy or frightened you feel, you need to stop, stay calm and assess the situation. The final colour of awareness is red: you and the cougar see each other and it doesn’t run away.
Assess the cougar’s behaviour as it reacts to your responses and prepare for an attack.
If you spend time in cougar country, taking an awareness and safety course is highly recommended. Some community colleges, schools and recreation centres offer them. If possible, attend a class that includes a field day where you can practise mock encounters similar to the way paramedics and firefighters are trained using simulated scenarios. Having a life-size cardboard cut-out of a cougar charging you at seventy-two kilometres (forty-five miles) per hour gives you an incredibly clear idea of how fast a predator can approach and is a good way to practise using inert bear spray, knives and other deterrents. It’s also a good way to get the adrenaline going and find out how you might respond in an actual situation. On my first encounter with a cardboard cougar I screamed, closed my eyes and aimed the bear spray to the side. A real cougar would have had me on the ground in seconds. Needless to say, a course with both a classroom session and a field component is incredibly valuable and a real confidence booster.
“There will most likely always be some cougars that will attack humans if given the opportunity,” said Dave Eyer. “People don’t need to be frightened and looking over their shoulder all the time. But they can be aware and carry the gear. An informed and prepared public should be able to keep many dangerous encounters from becoming attacks.”