Dangerous Animal Encounters – Section 3.2.1 Cougars (Mountain Lion, Puma) and Jaguars
« Back to the table of contents
Want to listen instead?
For the purposes of this class I feel that cougars and jaguars are similar enough in their habits that I am going to combine them. So you can assume that everything that I say about Cougars can be applied to Jaguars in the same way regarding human interactions. Though jaguars are larger than cougars and some of their habits are different it is my opinion that human interaction between the two species should be approached in the same way.
What are the odds of seeing a cougar?
I have lived most of my life within cougar ranges and spent thousands upon thousands of hours in the woods in areas where cougars were common. Yet I have only seen these cats a handful of times in my life. Cougars are incredibly aware and very secretive animals who almost never want anything to do with humans.
After living all over the United States, in areas of varying cougar population levels, it has been my experience that the more common cougars are the less scared people are of them, and the less common they are the more scared people get. I have actually found similar sentiments about bears and wolves to be true as well. My theory about this phenomenon is that cougars (or bears or wolves) pose such a small danger to humans that when humans and cougars live in the same areas people get used to the idea that they are around. They never see them and don’t have dangerous encounters, and this data eventually leads to realization that they don’t really pose a significant threat. I have many friends who are involved in mountain lion research and I have heard many stories of radio-collared cats that liked to hang out in and around populated subdivisions and no one ever even knew that they were there.
The more rare the cats are it seems the more mystery surrounds them and their habits and the populous tends to demonize them more. It is also true that in more rural places cougars are often hated because of fears that they will kill domestic livestock.
Cougars generally weigh between 100 and 125 lbs but males can sometimes reach 200 lbs. Cougars are carnivores and consume only meat. Their diet primarily consists of ungulates (hoofed mammals) in the United States and Canada but they are very adaptable and will eat what is available including smaller mammals like rabbits, raccoons, rodents, and sometimes livestock and domestic pets. The farther South a cougar’s range, the greater amount of their diet will be made up of small mammals, likely due to the greater abundance of these food sources.
Cougars are mostly solitary creatures, though researchers have observed instances of female cats with cubs hanging out together in larger numbers. Male cats that have reached maturity are exclusively solitary except during breeding periods. Since cougars are so shy of humans if you do not want to see them outside of a zoo you probably will not and if you do want to see them outside of a zoo you also probably will not. Though cougars are shy, they are also very curious animals and it is not uncommon for them to quietly approach interesting happenings in the woods to check out what is going on.
But cougars still do attack people…
Though it is rare, there are reports of humans being attacked and sometimes killed by cougars. Currently there are just a handful of reported cougar attacks each year, though that number seems to be on the rise over the last couple of decades. This is most likely due to an increase in human development of previously wild areas and increases in population density. Below are some tips for preventing or reacting to a cougar attach should one occur.
Minimizing your risk of encounter
Groups of people are much less likely to be attacked by a cougar than lone individuals. Cougars are many times more aware than bears and also many times more skittish of humans and they are also less abundant in most places where their ranges overlap, making encounters less common. Unlike bear encounters where humans accidently startle a bear, humans very rarely accidently sneak up on a cougar. It can therefore be assumed that if you have a close encounter with a cougar that the cougar is aware of your presence and has likely been aware of you for some time.
This knowledge completely changes the dynamics of the encounter because it means that the cougar has had the opportunity to retreat and has chosen not to for some reason. It could have chosen not to retreat out of curiosity, but it also could be trying to decide if you would be good to eat, or both. There is no way to know for sure, so your reaction should be the same.
What to do if you do encounter a cougar
Immediately upon coming into contact with a cougar you need to present an aware, direct, and aggressive posture. Make eye contact, yell loudly at the cougar and waive your arms in the air. You may consider even charging the cougar similarly to how a bear might charge a human. Do not turn your back to the cougar. If the cougar does not retreat immediately, attempt to throw rocks or sticks at it. It is generally not a good idea to run from a cougar as this could encourage it to give chase.
If a cougar does attack you, fight back hard and attempt to protect your neck, throat and face as much as possible. Cougars generally kill by severing the cervical spine or suffocating their prey by closing off their airway. If you can prevent it from biting your throat, neck, or face right away you can buy time to fight back. When fighting back hit it in the face around the eyes and directly on its nose. If you have a weapon of some kind like a pocketknife, walking stick, or pepper spray, use it.
Cougars are ambush predators and really would prefer to sneak up and kill their prey without direct confrontation if possible. That doesn’t mean that they won’t chase and take down fleeing prey, or continue to fight to subdue prey if they are not able to kill them immediately.
If a cougar by chance ambushes you unexpectedly, your chances of survival are more slim than a direct encounter scenario where you see them before they attack. In this scenario it is quite possible that the cougar will kill you very quickly with a bite to the neck before you have the opportunity to react. Your best chance at survival in this scenario lies in the hope that the cougar is not able to kill or subdue you immediately and you can think quickly enough to fight back. Again, protect your head and neck at all costs.
If you are not alone and a cougar attacks you or someone in your party, everyone else around should rally to fight the cougar off of the person being attacked. In these scenarios it is very common for a group of people to successfully get a cougar to disengage by throwing rocks and hitting it with sticks.
A note about Fido
Traveling in the woods with a dog in cougar country greatly increases your chances of an encounter with a cougar, as the presence of a dog can attract cougars. If a cougar attacks your dog, my recommendation is that you disengage and do not attempt to force the cougar off of the dog in close proximity. If possible, retreat, yell and throw rocks, but do not put yourself in harms way.
Though reports of necessary usage are rare, there are credible reports that bear spay is effective against cougars.
