The lesson to take from these wildlife autopsies is to know you’ll need to protect your head and neck during a cougar attack. Department of Agriculture, mountain lion prey are often found with puncture wounds to the back of the head or neck, and also to the throat. ‘I don’t feel like dying today’: Utahn describes how he survived 6-minute cougar encounter Fight for your lifeįinally, if a cougar attacks you, fight like your life depends on it - because it does! According to the U.S. You aren’t wanting to hit and unnecessarily injure the mountain lion, but you do want to show it that you can defend yourself and potentially injure it,” says the National Parks Service. The National Park Service suggested tossing rocks, or whatever you can throw, at the ground near a cougar before it attacks you.“Do not use high pitched tones or high pitch screams,” the California DFW suggests. Be sure to talk to the cougar, speaking calmly and firmly, while creating more and more distance from the cat.Also, never turn your back or kneel down in front of a mountain lion. If you’re wearing a jacket, open it up to make yourself look bigger, Utah DWR recommends, and wave your arms.“Make eye contact with the cougar, which cougars consider a threat,” the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources says. Second, always face the mountain lion and do your best to look intimidating.
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The second man fled, which caused the cougar to stop attacking the first man, but the cat chased down and killed the fleeing biker.ĭeadly attacks in the West: How to stay safe from grizzlies, black bears, mountain lions Get big and make a few warning shots.The men successfully scared the cougar at first, but the predator later attacked them, biting the first biker in the head and neck. The Deseret News has reported a story of two Washington mountain bikers who were attacked by a mountain lion.Experts also recommend keeping kids close and that everyone in your outing should be prepared for how the group will react to a cougar encounter.Īnd in case you’re pretty confident you’d be able to make it to your car before the cougar ran you down, the Mountain Lion Foundation reports that a cougar can reach 50 miles per hour in a sprint, can bound up to 40 feet and can hop 15 feet up into a tree.“Because mountain lions will take a deer and kind of throw some vegetation and dirt and rocks on top of it, and they don’t go that far away a lot of times, so that’s when you want to stay away.” If you find a dead deer, especially if it’s been covered up with dirt and sticks and such, stop and back away,” Scott Root, a Utah Division of Wildlife Resources conservation outreach manager, told the Deseret News. “If you see a mountain lion or mountain lion kittens, stop and just back away from the area.It should go without saying, but once you’ve spotted the mountain lion, don’t get any closer and move out of the area. According to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, running from a cougar could trigger a “chase, catch and kill response” from the big cat. The tense relationship between mountain lions and humans is only going to get worse You won’t outrun a mountain lionįirst, DO NOT RUN! If you’ve been lucky enough to spot a cougar before it tries to turn you into a Patagonia-clad serving of cat food, resist the urge to run.