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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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