“Listening to Cougar indeed! And hearing, through the voices of some of our finest writers, the echoes of wildness and of fear and of pure joy that say so much about who we are and who we have become.”

—BILL MCKIBBEN, AUTHOR OF The Bill McKibben Reader

“As long as there are still cougars out there, wilderness itself survives. By gathering the best stories to be found from people who have personally experienced the great cat, Marc Bekoff and Cara Blessley Lowe have brought our most elusive animal to life.”

—DAVID ROTHENBERG, AUTHOR OF Why Birds Sing AND
Thousand Mile Song

“Elegant and powerful, cougars are icons of wilderness that stir our dreams and emotions. The vibrant tales of encounters with cougars in this anthology express not only admiration for this adaptable predator but also convey that its survival is our moral obligation. The book is a timely and thoughtful blend of natural history and evocation of a mysterious creature.”

—GEORGE B. SCHALLER, WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY

“Listening to Cougar captures the grace, beauty, and majesty of cougars, and powerfully conveys what cougars mean to people through their own experiences and stories. A must-read for the public, ranchers, scientists, managers, and conservationists, this well-written collectiongives voice to views that until now have gone little-heeded by policymakers, and will help cougars by helping us find common ground.”

—SUSAN G. CLARK, PROFESSOR OF WILDLIFE ECOLOGY AND

POLICY SCIENCES, YALE UNIVERSITY

“I especially enjoyed the return to old school naturalist writings, celebrating writers who truly know their subject and write about it as scientists and storytellers, from the head and from the heart.”

—KATHY BROWN, PARK RANGER / DISTRICT NATURALIST,

ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK

“Listening to Cougar describes many scary and awe-inducing, face-to-face encounters with mountain lions (also known as cougars and pumas). I was riveted and could not put the book down. Mountain lions can stalk, ambush and kill a full grown man. Is that why we find these large, pure carnivores so endlessly fascinating? In addition to all the exciting stories in the book, deftly woven in with intriguing information about cougars, what I love about Listening to Cougar is the book’s emphasis on people’s emotions, feelings and passions. Cara Blessley Lowe and Marc Bekoff have brought together nearly twenty outstanding writers, including poets, biologists, hunters, naturalists and researchers, who tell in lyrically lucid prose of their intimate experiences with this most elusive of animals. Once cougars were the largest ranging mammal in the western hemispere, but humans have relentlessly killed them and stolen their habitat. Listening to Cougar is a profoundly important book. If enough people read it and start working for conservation, the magnificent mountain lion could still be saved.”

—CHRIS PALMER, DISTINGUISHED FILM PRODUCER IN RESIDENCE

AND DIRECTOR OF THE CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL FILMMAKING,

AMERICAN UNIVERSITY

“A far-ranging, inspired collection of voices speaking for cougars and seeing the world through the eyes of this great but vulnerable cat.”

—BRENDA PETERSON, AUTHOR OF

Build Me an Ark: A Life with Animals

“In Listening To Cougar, reverence for cougar lives on through the power of story from those who have been lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the shadow cat in the wild. This collection of essays brings to life the power and majesty of this large cat and whether or not you have been fortunate enough to see one in the wild, these gripping stories bring home the importance that these animals remain living wild and free in our natural world.”

—SHARON NEGRI, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND FOUNDER,

WILDFUTURES, A PROJECT OF EARTH ISLAND INSTITUTE