How to Survive a Cougar Encounter
I grew up in mountain lion country, and it came to my attention today that 1) this information is far less common knowledge than I thought and 2) a lot of the things you are supposed to do in a cougar attack run contrary to the advice given for other land animal attacks (ex. play dead, try to appear nonthreatening, don’t make eye contact).
Disclaimer: Most cougars do not want to eat you and will go to great lengths to avoid even being seen by humans. My hometown is chock full of mountain lions (we once had a lion cache a deer carcass in our yard) but I have only seen a wild lion once in my entire life; they really avoid people.
Mountain lion attacks are exceedingly rare and are usually carried out by sick or starving animals. You are more likely to be killed by a dog, bee sting, or lightning strike than a cougar.
Rule #1: Do not run, but don’t freeze either
Do not, do not, do not run from a cat. Running triggers the chase instinct. Running means prey. I know running is a basic instinct in scary situations for many of us, but you have to resist it. Your best bet is to back away slowly until far away from the cougar. Then you can run.
Some people take the “don’t run because it triggers the chase instinct” too far and don’t move at all when they see a cougar. This isn’t good either, as it is similar to the panicked freeze-mode of some prey animals and may suggest to the lion that you aren’t capable of fleeing or fighting back (or that you don’t notice its presence). Stare down the mountain lion, make it clear that you see it, and slowly leave the area.
As you leave look around and make sure that you aren’t between a mountain lion and its prey cache or kittens. Also make sure you aren’t cornering the cat and that it has an escape route.
Rule #2: Do not turn your back
A lion’s preferred means of hunting is to leap onto its prey’s back and either break the neck or get a good enough grip to suffocate the animal. Do not give the cat an opportunity to do this by turning your back.
Also if a cat advances towards you and acts threatening but eventually backs off, do not relax. Cougars are ambush predators and the cougar very well could have backed off so it can hide and regain the element of surprise. Keep looking all around as you leave the area, don’t give it a chance to sneak up behind you.
Rule #3: Be as scary-looking as possible
Do make eye contact. Do act scary. Do make yourself look as big as possible (open your jacket, square your shoulders, wave your arms, group together with other people, pick up and hold small children, lift your backpack above your head, etc). If you have a weapon like a tree branch or hiking pole wave it around.
Make loud noise, but do not scream or make high, jerky sounds. You don’t want to sound like the alarm call of a panicked deer or other prey animal. Bang your water bottle against a tree, smack hiking poles together, shout in a steady and non-high-pitched voice.
If the cat is advancing towards you throw rocks or sticks if you can, but avoid crouching down to grab projectiles as much as possible as this makes you look smaller and gives the cat a window to attack.
You want to convince the lion that you will f*ck it up if it comes after you. Do whatever it takes to make yourself look confident and scary. If the lion is still advancing towards you at this point you need to be mentally preparing yourself to fight.
Rule #4: If a cat attacks you do not stop fighting
Do not play dead, playing dead only works when an animal is attacking you out of defensiveness or territoriality. An attacking lion wants to eat you, and if you play dead it will happily drag you away and begin its meal.
If you stop fighting you are dead. If a cat grabs someone in front of you and you don’t fight the cat off, they are dead.
Yell if there are other people in the vicinity, but if you leave someone being mauled to get help that’s more than seconds away you are probably leaving them to their death.
You don’t have to beat the cat in a fight, you just have to convince it that humans are made of pain and that continuing to attack will be more risky than it’s worth. Use sticks, rocks, water bottles, hiking poles, etc. Go for sensitive areas like the eyes and the nose. Protect your head and neck as much as possible.
Safety precautions in mountain lion country:
-Travel in a group
-Try to avoid biking, hiking, or jogging at dawn and dusk. This is a cougar’s preferred hunting time (and if you do definitely go in a group)
-Do not let small children or pets out of eyesight (particularly at dawn and dusk). The vast majority of mountain lion attacks target small children or pets.
Disclaimer #2: This post is not meant to cast blame in any way on victims of mountain lion attacks that did not follow these rules. Even when you know what to do it is extremely difficult to keep a clear head and resist the instinct to flee when faced with a large predatory animal. One should never judge someone for how they reacted in a terrifying, unpredictable life-or-death situation.
Stay safe out there everybody!
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Rule #5
Carry a gun
Ok but there are places people live where you could literally encounter a mountain lion almost ANYWHERE. Walking home from school. Outside your house as you get out of the car. At the park where you walk your dogs. Are you gonna carry a gun with you EVERYWHERE?
Or even if you’re just visiting mountain lion country are you gonna want a gun bouncing around on your hip while you’re out for a jog in just athletic wear or when you’re mountain biking and might fall on said gun?
Considering the extremely tiny chance that a mountain lion will attack you, even when there are lots of them around, carrying a gun every time you’re in mountain lion country is a massive and hugely impractical overreaction.
As someone who hikes in mountain lion/bear/coyotes/rabid animal/nature that wants to eat you territory than it is wise to carry a gun with you hiking and also carry bear spray. When jogging in the woods carry a large pocket knife. But most importantly it’s best to know what to do when you stumble upon these animals and only use weapons as a last resort unless its rabid animals and venomous snakes like water moccasins that are assholes and will chase you if you get to close.
Actually you definitely should avoid using a gun on a rabid animal unless you really really know what you are doing because if you hit it in the wrong place (especially the head) you could aeresolize its infected bodily fluids and infect yourself.
And all you have to do if you come across a venomous snake is calmly walk away and leave it alone. Snakes do not “chase” people, some of them will mock charge to frighten people away if they feel threatened (or they are actually trying to flee past the person to get to cover, but it seems to the person like they are being chased because the snake is moving in their direction). But a snake has nothing to gain from chasing a larger and more dangerous animal that it cannot eat. That is a tall tale made up by people who vastly misunderstand snake behavior.
Bear spray or an airhorn (or other means of making a loud and startling noise) is a good idea, but I lived my entire childhood in the heart of bear/mountain lion country and I never knew anyone that needed to use a gun for defense against a wild animal other than using it to make a loud noise (which can be accomplished with lots of other things). My mom chased a mother bear and her cubs out of our garage by banging a frying pan around.
Most of nature doesn’t want to eat you. Other humans are way more likely to kill you than any wild animal. Cars are way WAY more likely to kill you. If you need to carry a gun everywhere just to feel safe in nature you don’t understand nature.
if i remember correctly, the idea that water moccasins will chase you is a complete misconception, and came about because a water moccasin that’s on land, when startled, will often try to get to water so it *seems* like they’re coming at you but really you’re just in the way of their escape route. could be wrong about that, but i have some memory of reading something along those lines.
but yes, if you leave venomous snakes alone they will absolutely not bother you. trying to use a weapon on a venomous snake is a surefire way to risk a bite. just wear good boots, be alert, and if you do find a venomous snake, stay out of their strike range.
