Table of Contents Introduction   /   Lion Facts   /   Lion Statistics How to Survive and Encounter with a Mountain Lion (DOs and DON'Ts) Confirmed Attacks: (*1890-1990) - (1991-2000) - (**2001-Now) Further Cougar Attacks (Hunters, Non-injury, Unconfirmed, etc.) Complementary Links  /  Research and Tables  /  References Lion Defense Cartoons  /  More Cartoons  /  Still More Humor Comments from You and Others E-mail Linda Lewis   *Time span for researcher Paul Beier's study   **Includes the Cox case "coverup" in Arkansas

Introduction

When I discovered to my dismay that I had moved into territory where lions were recently seen, though they had been absent for generations, I began searching the internet for information. Everywhere I found platitudes such as cougars will never attack unless cornered or unless protecting their young; they fear all humans and avoid them. I had heard just enough reports to the contrary to keep searching.

Then I found Tom Chester's site. An avid hiker, Tom began a site giving accounts of mountain lion attacks in North America. It was a shock to him to have the abstract go to the concrete so quickly when he learned a lady killed in California in 1994 was a friend of his sister. I found that Tom's site was informative to those concerned, but not alarmist. This inspired me to contact Tom and relate an incident in Colorado and then to make my own collection of sometimes more expanded attack accounts as a way of continuing to make contributions to Tom's collection of reports.

I agree with Tom that there are more frequent causes of violent human deaths than deaths from any wild predators. Never-the-less, in some location and under certain situations, the lion threat is real and is increasing with fairly recent (the last 30+ years) protective policies towards predators and many other wild creatures. As a result of recent policies, lions have begun showing up even in areas developed 50 years ago and where lions had not been seen for at least that long. Management policies (which are experimental by virtue of their recent implementation and which don't always anticipate interactions between humans, other predators, or other wildlife species) have also been responsible for increases in lion and other wildlife populations. Most disturbing on the current scene (2005) is the revelation that biologists, many of whom work for wildlife agencies, no longer value the scientific method over environmentally correct agendas. For whatever reason agenda takes precedence, a pattern appears obvious in which too often dangerous predators are protected at the same time that the public is deliberately misinformed.

Whether you believe the risk from predators is miniscule or is an increasing one to be watched, keep in mind that, however statistically unlikely, risk of death from such as bee stings, spider bites, lightening strikes, and lion attacks are still additive. When you welcome the sight of a magnificent predator into your neighborhood, realize that the risk is far greater for children than for the adults making policies.

Lion Facts and Statistics

Identifying Characteristics:  Until 1993 their scientific name was felis concolor meaning cat of one color. (After 1993 the cougar was reclassified as puma concolor.) Absent stripes or spots (as adults) this one uniform color on their upper parts ranges in individual cats from greys to tans to yellows to reddish shades. In general, pumas that are farther away from the equator tend to be larger and more grayish or tannish in color. Pumas that are close to the equator tend to be smaller and more reddish in color. They have a paler, almost buff color on their bellies with whitish throats and chests. Cougars have pinkish noses with a black border that extends to the lips. The muzzle stripes, the area behind ears, and the tips of their tails are black. Their ears are small and rounded. Adult males may exceed 8 feet in length from nose to the end of their very long tail and typicall weigh between 130 and 170 pounds. Adult females can be 7 feet long and typically weigh between 75 and 105 pounds. Kittens, or cubs, are covered with blackish brown spots and have dark rings around their tails. The markings fade as they mature. Adults are usually solitary but may come together for mating. Females and their cubs or sibling lions may stay together for up to two years.   Sources:  (Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife's Mountain Lion Brochure; 02/2000) (Andrew Kitchener; The Natural History of the Wild Cats; New York: Cornell University Press, 1991) (The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission's Online Panther Handbook)

Habitat:  Absent the threat from man, lions are very successful predators that can thrive in many environments. In North America, as a rule, you can expect lions will follow their favorite meal -- deer. In order to succeed with an attack, they rely on sprinting or surprise which requires cover or concealment. Cover is anything from clumps of weeds to forests and thick brush. Topography (particularly ledges) or branches can also hide a lion waiting to pounce. Lions can sprint approximately 40 miles per hour, leap up 15 feet in one bound, spring forward almost 45 feet, and drop silently 60 feet and land running. Lions establish territories, with a male's often about 100 square miles, a female's less than half that. These territories tend to overlap and be shared by a limited number of lions. Their density varies largely in response to availability of prey. In the Foresthill area of California in 1985, 27 of the big cats had established territory within 130 square miles. That equals 21 per 100 square miles or 8 per 100 square kilometers. Since they face increased danger even from other lions outside their territory, they will not easily leave it, once established.

Endangered or No?  Are there more cougars in the woods with present-day bounty hunting bans? According to painstaking research, absolutely yes. Although cougars were almost completely eradicated in the East, and their range was severly limited in the West, public attitudes changed, resulting in protections and/or hunting bans and quotas. At the same time, modern ranches provided an abundant, economical replacement for deer meat (and incidental grazing for deer, antelope, elk, etc.). Analysts seem to overlook this agricultural progress as one of the factors which has allowed deer herds (favored cougar prey) to rebound from lower levels when they were hunted more extensively by man in the past.

Also largely ignored is the the fact that human beings have demonstrated time and time again the willingness and ability to learn from what they consider to be mistakes. We no longer farm the way we did before the Dust Bowl, using techniques such as contour plowing and crop rotation, to say nothing of controlled irrigation. We no longer strip mine without regulations to restore landscape. We now log with sustained yield and biodiversity in mind and/or with carefully planned tree farms. Due to changes in thinking, the countryside has been modified as mankind felt the need at one time for more arable land, at one time for more lumber, and currently for more wildlife and "natural" habitat. With this emphasis on the environment as an abstract, we also no longer try to destroy predators without considering their place in the habitat. As a part of man's economic and political choices, once vigorously hunted cougars are protected, and deer have even been reintroduced to some areas where cougars are freer than ever to prey upon them. A question to consider is what will we learn from current policies? Will we learn the danger is too great, or will we learn that we are on the right track?

Facts vs Folklore:  Still thought to be endangered by most, in reality mountain lions have made a rapid comeback throughout the United States and Canada after bountied hunting was banned in the 1960's. A recent estimate by wildlife ecologists puts lion numbers at more than 31,000 in 12 Western states. This number may be more mountain lions in the West than there were before European settlement according to Maurice Hornocker, a senior scientist at the Wildlife Conservation Society. States such as California estimate lion populations which were as low as 600 are now closer to 6,000. Though scientific studies are difficult and expensive, Oregon is another state with similar estimates (about 5,000 currently). Recently, the presence of mountain lions has been confirmed in Manitoba, Canada. My e-mails report sightings in regions where they were considered extinct, including Nebraska, Minnesota, New York, Indiana, Arkansas, Virginia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Ontario. I have read of recent sightings in Kansas where I grew up without a thought of mountain lion presence.

The Blame Game:  Although most current political and social planners worry about the threat to wildlife from human encroachment, fruitful growth (from human irrigation and planting) associated with cultivated farms, ranches, and housing developments may be yet another overlooked factor which has actually increased quality food for deer and other wildlife that cougars prey upon. More plentiful shelter and nesting sites in the form of storm drains, culverts, junkyards, and out buildings have also been provided by mankind (however incidentally) for smaller wildlife on the cougar menu. Often conveniently fenced pets/livestock are yet another human-provided source of fare for the cougar pallet. An eastern scout proposed the novel (to me) notion that because we now fastidiously confine dogs that used to keep small prey from our yards and other nearby premises just a few decades ago, this has led prey species to seek our "city comforts" much more freely and to multiply unexpectedly with the vastly increased territories and safety. Before assigning reflexive blame for a problem which may not exist, studies need to be conducted (or cited more openly) to verify whether wildlife numbers (foxes, raccoons, deer, possoms, cougars) may actually have increased as a result of man's expansion rather than decreased.

Released Captives or Migration?  Officials seem to be given more options if they declare a cougar sighting to be that of a released captive. Certainly, laws regarding keeping exotics are too lax in most countries, so this is always a possibility when the description rules out such as bobcats, dogs, foxes, etc. But all facts must be considered. It is documented that the deer population has increased significantly in states and provinces. In response, protected cougars have surged to numbers that they themselves now mainly control via their own behaviors. Unhunted cougar populations with room to expand and a plentiful food supply have been demonstrated to grow up to 28% yearly, allowing rapid recolonizing of any suitable land--for hundreds of miles in every direction and across rivers, roads, and state lines.

Greatest Population Limiter--Cats theselves!  Unhunted cats, however, do not overpopulate an area. Rather, kittens may be abondoned by mothers unable to provide for them in areas where they must compete with too many other predators or as a result of other factors limiting deer herds and/or other common cougar prey. Another population check is intraspecies killing which is very common in territorial disputes and breeding demands. Males will kill even their own young to maintain their territories or to breed successively. To survive, especially young cougars most often move on to other areas/territories which are now exceedingly plentiful certainly as a result of political protections and also possibly as a result of man's cultivations which have increased the harvest for all life, including wildlife.

Sources:  (Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Mountain Lion Brochure; 02/2000) (The News-Review; Emotions run high in cougar hunting debate; 03/08/2001; Jeff Willis) (e-mail from Peggy Martinook; the Riding Mountain National Park, Communication and Visitor Services; 11/18/2002) (Deer Draw Cougars Ever Eastward; Blaine Harden; The New York Times; 12/08/2002) (The Boston Globe; Cougar migration generates Mass. interest; by Vicki Croke, Globe Correspondent; 03/22/2004) (1995 DFG Outdoor California) ("Cat Attacks - True Stories and Hard Lessons from Cougar Country"; Dean Miller & Jo Deurbrouck; Sasquatch Books; 2001; Pages 63-67)

Diet:  Though their favorite prey is deer, these opportunistic predators can feed on a wide variety of animals from grasshoppers to elk. If very hungry, they can even eat pet food or garbage. A healthy cougar, however, is drawn to hunt for live prey. They kill larger prey by jumping onto their backs and tackling them to the ground. Then they sink their teeth into the necks and throats of their quarry, often strangling them to death. (Adaptable in their methods, elk are downed by use of a claw in the snout to wrench the neck down and break it.) They also rake the deer or elk with their long claws to cripple it. A cougar will kill up to one deer, elk, calf, bighorn sheep, or goat per week. In the 1990's about 200,000 deer per year were killed by lions in California alone. They feed on their kill, eating about 8 pounds of meat at a sitting, then make a cache by covering the carcass. A female with cubs often will eat most of her kill, returning to her cache until the meat begins to spoil, then she will kill again. Males often eat little of their kill, wandering off in search of a female to mate with instead. It is not uncommon for cougars to go into a killing frenzy where many slaughtered animals are not eaten. It is widely believed that these predators only kill for food, but this is disputed by field observations. It is widely believed that cougars kill only the old and the weak, pruning herds like a careful gardner. To the contrary, actual studies demonstrate their preference for easy fawns. It is also widely believed that cougars will attack humans only under abnormal circumstances such as being cornered or diseased. Though we are far from their favorite prey, the cougars that attack humans are usually found to be normal animals exhibiting normal predator behavior.   Sources:  (1995 DFG Outdoor California) (ElkHunting.com, Predators of the Elk) (Jo Deurbrouck and Dean Miller, The University of Montana's Headwaters News, Attacks not surprising where cougars and humans mix) (Dan Bihary, Washington State Bowhunters)

Behavior Toward Humans:  Because they tend to be nocturnal creatures relying on stealth, for the most part mountain lions are seldom seen. However, in an increasing number of communities, they have learned to live near humans, frequently and boldly showing themselves at all hours of the day to a creature which continues to show them no threat. Because we are out and about in the daytime, keep in mind that biologist and cougar researcher Paul Beier's Table of Attacks shows most attacks on humans occur in daylight hours. With protections in place for them at the same time that urban areas provide easy and tempting prey such as housecats and dogs, intelligent, opportunistic (sly not shy) cougars are found more and more in populated areas as well as in more remote regions. As a result of the current trend to protect and manage lion populations, increases in the numbers of these predators have resulted in more damage complaints and human encounters. A few years ago a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service put GPS Global Tracking devices on several lions in Southern California. He tracked one lion who would hide in the heavy brush and watch hikers walk by on a popular hiking trail. During a testing weekend, dozens of people passed within a few feet of the lion but no one saw him. Even a small mountain lion is able to injure or even kill a person. With physique and lungs designed for sprinting not endurance, they are ambush predators. Pound for pound they are rated as the strongest of all the big cats and that includes African lions. A 150-pound mountain lion can take down and kill a 1,000-pound bull elk within a matter of minutes. Unlike a wild animal which may attack a human because it is either surprised or feels threatened and/or feels its young is threatened, experts say a mountain lion more often attacks because you are basically food.  Source: ([California] Lake County Record-Bee; You may not see them, but lions see you; Terry Knight "The Outdoorsman"; 01/31/2007) ("Beast in the Garden"; David Baron; W.W. Norton & Company; 2004; pages 64-77)

Human Attack Statistics:

• From 1890 to this date I list 19 ¹confirmed attacks involving human fatalities in the United States and Canada that have resulted 20 deaths. 2 more very probably due to a cougar but unconfirmed bring the total to 22 deaths. Of the 20 confirmed deaths, 12 were children, from a 3-year-old boy in Colorado to a 13-year-old boy in Washington. The average age of the children killed was a little over 8 years old. In addition another 3-year-old boy in 1991 was probably killed by a cougar, but only lion tracks and drag marks were ever found. 13 of confirmed fatal attacks were initiated on children, though only the defending mother was killed in one case and another woman died later purportedly due to rabies while defending a 10-year-old who also died from the same symptoms. Of children killed, only one was a girl. To date, only 3 deaths confirmed by a cougar have been adult males with one probably small--not much more than 100 pounds. The other 5 adult deaths were female. The 18-year-old and 35-year-old males confirmed as killed by a cougar were involved in fitness activities (jogging/bicycling) as were 3 of the adult women (jogging/cross country skiing). All of these were alone when attacked. One adult female (who's death cannot be confirmed as due to a cougar because of an apparently deliberately poor investigation by Arkansas officials) was also alone, probably doing yard maintenance. As noted, the other 2 adult women were killed as a result of defending children.  Source:  (List of Confirmed Cougar Attacks In the United States and Canada)


• Since 1960 15 have died due to mountain lion attacks after bounty hunting was banned in the United States and Canada. Since 1990 10 have died as a result of confirmed mountain lion attacks with 1 more suspected but unconfirmed since the victim's body was never found. If the total of 10 fatalities is considered, in the just the past 20 years, the number of attacks resulting in death is equal to the total of those during the entire 100 years from 1890 to 1990 noted below.  Sources:  (Calgary Herald; 01/03/2001) (Numbers updated by adding recent attacks listed beginning here at this site)


• A scientific review of records on attacks by cougars on humans in the United States and Canada (by wildlife ecologist, Professor Paul Beier, at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, and formerly of University of California, Berkeley, published in 1991) indicated this:
  1890-1990   53 total attacks   9 attacks resulting in 10 fatalities
  Source:  (DFG 1995 Outdoor California)


• Injury Attacks in the United States and Canada have been as follows:
  1970's   17 total attacks found   including 4 fatalities (2 injurred in one attack)
  1980's   18 total attacks found   including 2 fatalities
  1990's   43 total attacks found   including 8 fatalities
  2000's   36 ¹confirmed attacks to date including 3 fatalities found by my research (07/09/2009)

¹Recently, my contacts with many others in many states and provinces indicates that wildlife officials and others are under pressure to minimize cougar sightings and even cover up their aggression toward humans. Therefore, because of substantial evidence, I have included the Jaryd Atadero account as a confirmed attack in the statistics section without confirmation from wildlife officials, while the Leigh Ann Cox case has too many unresolved questions to do this within my statistics, though her account is listed on my confirmed pages.

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  If you have any comments, additions, updates, or editorial suggestions, please e-mail Linda Lewis  
Pages Last Updated 07/17/2009