[pct-l] Fwd: Re: Mountain Lion Encounter

[Dan Jacobs]

Forgot to change the address on this one.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Dan Jacobs" <youroldpaldan at gmail.com>
Date: Jul 20, 2013 5:56 PM
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Mountain Lion Encounter
To: <lilacs007 at yahoo.com>
Cc:

On Sat, Jul 20, 2013 at 4:00 PM, <lilacs007 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> I'm having some issues with my phones internet so I can't see it.
>

Mountain lions and cougars are solitary animals, and normally avoid humans.
When I was working in the woods, we assumed that all cougar sightings or
encounters were nearly all fake. Folks I know that have truly seen a cougar
worked or recreated in the woods for decades and maybe saw one or two,
which ran away at top speed as soon as they realized humans could see them.

That being said, I do not discount the fear and concern of Muk Muk, as
there can always be a statistical outlier. I wasn't there, so I won't
comment on this particular encounter. If pressing the 911 button on her
SPOT messenge rand the men that came that morning made her feel better,
than it was the right thing for her to do. Any costs, or if it was a waste
of resources, is now between her and the responding groups and/or agencies.

My own most recent cougar encounter a few years ago confirms that normally
they want nothing to do with us. This cougar had just killed a neighbor's
chicken, saw me coming, and took off to a safe distance to look back. It
then squatted to urinate, and took off again into the woods and
disappeared. My first cougar encounter in the 1990's was a biologist
tracking a collared cougar. It ran within a few yards of us working in a
creek , and really lit the afterburners once it realized we were there.
About a half hour later, a CA fish and game uniformed man came by with a
radio collar tracking setup asking if we saw a big cat go by.

Fear is a very primal thing, especially when in fear of attack from a wild
animal. I work hard to suppress mine when it comes up. It can be difficult.
That is why I don't second guess other's fear in this kind of situation.
She was genuinely very afraid, and unless you are in the exact same kind of
situation, it's not right to judge her or her actions.

Dan
-- 
"Loud motorcycle stereos save lives."
Motorcycle to hike, hike to motorcycle.
Make a friend of pain and you'll never be alone.