[pct-l] Mountain Lion Encounter

[Betty Wheeler]

Hello to the PCT-L with my first post. (Be kind to a newbie, even one who
begins with such a long post!)  I too am a small-ish female and have been
thinking a lot about the recent cougar experiences of Muk Muk and Anish.

While it seems to be generally true that doing all of the recommended
things (look big, make confrontational noise, don't run away or retreat)
typically succeed in making a cougar flee, these tactics appear NOT to work
as reliably if the cougar has already identified the person as "prey."

For example, in Tom Chester's description of the 1995 attack on Moses
Street, although the cougar backed off when Street yelled and waved his
arms (having seen the cougar poised to pounce on him from behind), Street
then had to fend off a 2nd and 3rd attack.
http://tchester.org/sgm/lists/lion_attacks_nonca.html

Similarly, in the Oct. 20, 1997 attack on a bicyclist (same link as above),
even after the cyclist defended himself with his bicycle, causing the
cougar to retreat, it afterwards followed him down the trail for a short
distance.

And in the April 28, 1998 attack on Andy Peterson, an experienced hiker,
the cougar retreated after being stabbed with a Swiss Army knife, but then
attacked again (and Peterson then jabbed it in the eye with his thumb). The
wildlife manager for the Colorado Division of Wildlife said that the lion
probably wasn't driven away by the hiker's action, but instead "just lost
interest", since lions are used to receiving wounds from their prey.
Another interesting observation: "Wildlife officials believe the reason the
cat attacked was that it was young and learning how to hunt, based on the
description provided by Peterson." (same link as above)

Finally, some of the reported facts in the two recent PCT incidents
similarly suggest that if a cougar ID's you as prey, the cougar is less
likely to act "normally" (i.e., flee from humans) and more likely to hang
around or stalk. Anish reported on July 9, "Two altercations on subsequent
nights, last night I was stalked for half a mile before I found some folks
to camp near." https://www.facebook.com/AnishHikes. She semi-jokingly
reflected: "I realized rather quickly that in my fatigued state i was
tripping and stumbling a lot and yelping when my foot blisters got pinched.
Good job, Anish. Way to do a wounded animal impression in front of a top
predator...." In Muk Muk's case, it seems to me quite possible that the
cougar(s) hung around so long because she was ID'd as prey, or possibly
because she happened to be near a spot where a cougar was protecting
 either a kill or a cub. Protecting a food cache is potentially why Anne
Hjelle was attacked in Orange County in 2004, per Tom Chester's lengthy
analysis: http://tchester.org/sgm/lists/lion_attacks_ca.html.

I greatly appreciate what Shroomer wrote on Muk Muk's blog (
http://mexicotocanada2013.wordpress.com/2013/07/18/my-harrowing-night-with-a-mountain-lion/comment-page-1/#comment-1440),
and am wondering if anyone knows of instances where pepper spray has been
successfully used to stop a cougar attack. Also, is it legal to carry
pepper spray in the various jurisdictions crossed by the PCT?

I'm totally in favor of preserving top predators in their natural
environment (
http://e360.yale.edu/feature/the_crucial_role_of_predators_a_new_perspective_on_ecology/2442/),
and (sort of) hope to see a mountain lion someday aside from the one
sighting I have had from a car, but would also like to be able to protect
myself, in the (statistically very, very unlikely) event that I needed to
do so.

-Betty