Cougar attack near Seattle

[Kattt]

Maybe I missed someone already posting this…

http://www.chicagotribune.com/ct-cougar-attack-seattle-20180520-story.html

 

[Rex Sanders]

Mountain bikers in fatal cougar attack did everything right, authorities say

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/may/20/mountain-bikers-fatal-cougar-attack-washington-state

The cougar ran off but returned and attacked when the men got back on their bikes. It bit one – the survivor – on the head and shook him. The second cyclist ran and the animal dropped the first victim and pounced, killing its victim and dragging him back to what appeared to be its den, King County sheriff’s Sgt Ryan Abbott said.

“They did everything they were supposed to do,” Abbott said on Sunday. “But something was wrong with this cougar.”

Sometimes when you do everything right, the outcome is bad.

— Rex

[Gumbo]

A few thoughts:

• Both fled when the other was attacked. Seems odd; 2 adults fighting it off would likely have avoided a fatality.
• Last time a cougar killed a human in WA state was 94 years ago. My guess is that many have died in car wrecks on the way to the trailhead in that time.
• I hiked 9 miles today, about 10 miles further up into the Cascades, safe in the knowledge that the next fatality isn’t due for another 94 years…
• None of this is likely of any comfort to the victim’s family. Doesn’t matter how unlikely an outcome is, it still has tragic effects when it happens. Condolences to all…

[Paul S.]

Everything right except running from a predator. A hard instinct to resist.

[Kattt]

I also wondered why they did not stick together. Years ago an older woman saved her husband while the cougar was peeling the skin off his head. She kept at it with a pencil, if I remember correctly. The cougar finally gave up .

[Kenneth Keating]

Sometimes your mind reacts so fast to a situation, it just tells you to do something and you just do it.

[David Thomas]

Which is why pilots, police and military personnel keep training and training for various scenarios.

Mountain lions are one of the few North American critters I haven’t seen in the wild.   I’d love to (from a distance).

I’d like to think all the times I’ve stood my ground with grizzlies and chased off black bears would kick in, but who knows?

[d k]

When I heard about the attack, I started wondering if it would help at all to lie on the ground with the bicycle on top on yourself, whether you could block an attack that way…not that I would be able to think of doing that in the moment!

[Jerry Adams]

maybe hold out the bike between you and cat

or maybe a stick.  Dogs don’t like sticks.

[William Kerber]

I’m not sure if it’s just the timing of what I read or not, but it seems that mountain bikers and trail runners might be more at risk. Maybe they appear to be prey in flight, since they are moving faster. I also believe it may be due to the fact that there are way more people in the back country than ever before.

[Kenneth Keating]

@davidinkenai:  You don’t want to see one in the wild, lol.  I did, on the JMT south of Kearsarge Pinnacles.  It was was large, quiet, fast, around 150 lbs and the first thing I thought was “Wow, this thing could sneak up and easily take me down before I even knew what hit me.”  I never realized how large they can get until I spooked this one and saw it in person.  I was alone and it really unnerved me.  I just high tailed it out of there for the next couple of miles.  Beautiful animal, but scary also.

[David Thomas]

And  mountain lions have rebounded both in numbers and in their range in the last few decades.  First bounties were stopped and then hunting them with dogs or at all was prohibited in many areas / States.

Up here (in Alaska) most people are pretty smart about NOT leaving out dog food or cat food; securing your garbage so an animal, even a grizzly, can’t get in; having an electric fence around the chickens, etc.  But in the suburban wild land interface of the West Coast, there’s a lot of pet food left outside and tasty domestic / feral cats and dogs that draw mountain lions in towards settled areas.

And, yes, in our regional parks, where they mostly eat wild and feral animals, we hike, jog, and bicycle. All with our necks exposed, often not paying attention.

[William Kerber]

N/M not good timing on my part for making light of any situation for the deceased and injured.

[d k]

@Jerry – yeah, probably best to remain vertical, and hold the bike up vertically also.  Being on the ground would protect your back side, but also make you look more like prey.

We did see one in a regional park near here once, pouncing on gopher holes I think.  It just looked like a kitty at that distance (75-100 yds or so), and with that behavior.  But for that long tail…  My significant other had one cross the trail in front of him then look back (Lake Chabot), also saw a young one up around Black Kaweah in the Sierra when he was sitting and waiting for climbing friends (it took off as soon as it saw him).

[Jerry Adams]

wow, I have never seen one.

once I left tracks in snow, the next day I saw Cougar track on top of mine from previous day

I think they’re commonly around, watching us but not showing themselves to us

[Dale Wambaugh]

Sad. Evidently the cougar was emaciated and desperate. In the mid-1980’s there was a cougar attack on the Vancouver Island West Coast Trail by an injured cat. He came up behind a 12yo kid and grabbed him by the head. The kid’s father scared the cat off and they medivac’d the boy out.

Since they outlawed hunting cougars with dogs in Washington the population has gone up. My Aussie Shepherd would alert every now and then on the trail, standing on his hind legs to get a better whiff and I always wondered if it was a cat when he did that. This incident was not far from the suburbs, just into the national forest really. https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/two-attacked-by-cougar-identified-wildlife-officials-say-predator-was-emaciated/

Mountain bikers have been running into bears too. (search YouTube for some videos). The bikes are fast and fairly quiet, so it is easier to surprise a bear on q trail. I’m taking the bear spray with me on the bike, which would work on a cat too. Counter Assault makes a chest holster that looks like a good biking combo.

Running is the wrong thing to do with a cat as it elicits their predatory  response. Get big and noisy, throw rocks, get a stick, etc.

[Pedestrian]

The two lions I’ve seen up close (< 100 yards) were both on or just off pretty well used trails bordering the urban SF Bay Area. The last known fatality that I know of was a biker in Whiting Ranch – a trail system bordering Mission Viejo in Orange County. I’ve hiked there many times as we have family down there.

In general cougars tend to avoid humans – I’m sure there are many more prowling the trails I hike/run around here in the Bay area that we never see as they are so stealthy.

For an interesting encounter Joe Grant an ultra runner had on the Wonderland trail check out his terrifying blog post:

http://alpine-works.com/2011/09/a-day-in-wonderland/

Always good to keep the overall fatalities from mountain lion attacks in perspective:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_cougar_attacks_in_North_America

It’s a very rare event even on the West Coast where the lion population has been growing.

The risks of attacks are probably lowest in the back country.

[Rex Sanders]

Please don’t over-react to the second death-by-cougar in Washington state in 94 years! In many areas, they are all around us, watching and hiding, all the time.

I’ve seen two cougars while hiking in the mountains of coastal California, seen two 20-30 feet from my back door, and captured a dozen or so on a wildlife camera pointed at the back yard. Yet we don’t take any special precautions, besides making sure our cat remains an indoor-only cat. I’ve hiked thousands of miles in prime puma country – alone.

And I’m a slouch compared to @kat_p. Based on her photos, videos, and presentations, her trail name could be “dances with pumas.”

Any death by a predator is scary and tragic – and very, very rare. “Don’t run” might be the best single piece of advice. “Drive safely to the trailhead” might be far more valuable.

— Rex

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