by Cat Urbigkit
In one of the more disturbing attack stories, in August 1996, thirty-six-year-old Cindy Parolin was killed in a mountain lion attack in British Columbia. Parolin and three of her children were horseback riding when a lion rushed out toward the horses. It attacked six-year-old Steven when he was thrown from his horse. Cindy Parolin jumped from her horse to fight off the lion, ordering her two other children to get Steven to the safety of their car and to get help. The woman survived her battle with the mountain lion for more than an hour, even as the lion fed on her body, only succumbing to her injuries after learning that her children were safe. The lion was shot and killed at the scene. Steven Parolin survived his injuries.
In 2008, a fifty-five-year-old autistic man was killed and eaten by a mountain lion near his New Mexico home. An aggressive mountain lion was later shot in the man’s yard, but escaped. The adult male lion was eventually caught and killed.
Colorado’s Front Range contains not only the state’s largest cities and a majority of the population, but is also a hot spot for human conflicts with mountain lions. Residents and recreationists enjoying the outdoors are brought into conflict in this urban interface, where hunting is restricted or prohibited. In June 1990, twenty-eight-year-old medical student Linda Walters was jogging near Boulder, Colorado, when she encountered not one but two mountain lions. Although she threw objects and yelled at the cats, they approached her and she retreated up a nearby tree. One of the lions started up the tree after her, so Walters kicked it, knocking it from the tree. The second lion tried to get to Walters, but she smacked it with a tree branch and it retreated to the ground as well. The lions waited nearly half an hour under the tree but finally turned their attention elsewhere, which is when Walters made her escape.
In January 1991, eighteen-year-old Scott Lancaster was attacked and killed by a mountain lion as he jogged near his Colorado high school. The 100-pound adult male lion, which had fed on his body and partially covered it up with debris, was shot at the attack site by law enforcement officers investigating Lancaster’s death.
In August 2012, wildlife officials in Boulder were forced to shoot one young adult mountain lion and scare off a second after the duo were seen wandering around the city, showing no fear of humans while inspecting residential areas and yards.
Four months later, a thirty-year-old woman was hiking off the trail with her dog near the Sunrise Amphitheater in Boulder when she spotted a mountain lion just a few feet away. The woman raised her hands and made noise, making her way to the safety of an out-house nearby, where she and her dog hid out while the lion sniffed around outside for several minutes before departing.
Just a few days later, and 100 miles south, people using Cheyenne Mountain State Park in Colorado Springs, Colorado, started having their own troublesome encounters with a mountain lion. One female jogger was chased by the animal; park rangers heard the woman’s screams and ran over to save her from possible attack. Although lion tracks were found in the area, the animal was not found.
In January 2013, state officials had to remove a young male lion from the city of Lyons, Colorado, after it was seen preying on animals within the city. First the lion killed a raccoon near a residence, and when a domestic cat came out to inspect, it killed the cat too. All too aware of the pattern of escalating behavior, officials decided to remove the animal to protect the public.
Around this time, neighboring states were getting in on the action. Three mountain lions (an adult female and her adolescent cubs) were euthanized in Utah by state officials after preying on pets in a residential area of Woodland. Things were more harrowing in California in February 2013. David Nash was stalked by a mountain lion while hiking on a trail at dusk near Colfax, in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. When the lion blocked his path on the Stevens Trail and would not retreat, Nash was able to use his cell phone to call for help. Officers from the California Highway Patrol were dispatched in a helicopter to assist and discovered Nash waving a flashlight with the big cat standing nearby. The pilot used the helicopter to fly in low and drive the lion away, and then hovered over Nash with a bright spotlight until he met up with other officers on the trail. A spokes-person for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife noted, “The behavior was consistent with a mountain lion that is stalking prey.” The next morning, a state wildlife officer went to the trail to post warning signs, only to be confronted by the aggressive lion. As the lion prepared to pounce, the warden shot and killed the animal.
USING PEPPER SPRAY ON MOUNTAIN LIONS
Since mountain lions, wolves, and bears (both black bears and grizzly bears) inhabit some of the same areas, carrying and knowing how to use bear spray (pepper spray) is a great idea to help deter an aggressive encounter with a large predator.
In 2001, a mountain lion biologist with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks successfully used bear spray to deter an adult female lion that had approached two researchers and their lion hound, which was held on a short leash. The lion approached the men within just a few feet and had attempted to slap the dog with a paw when she was sprayed in the face. The lion turned away, but quickly returned to resume the attack, only to be met with a second burst of spray. The lion retreated about 20 yards distant and laid down, foaming at the mouth. This gave the men, and the dog, time to retreat from the area. Wildlife officials have since changed their research protocol to no longer directly approach radio-collared females with tiny kittens, as was the case in this encounter.
Pepper spray must be carried in a way that is accessible in an emergency, and be of sufficient size that you can get several bursts of spray from it if needed. Each burst should last two or three seconds.
In addition to humans, pets and other animals were not immune to attacks from mountain lions. Because researchers believe that these attacks may be a precursor to attacks on humans, the predator is destroyed. A pair of mountain lions stalked a residential district in British Columbia in February 2013, targeting family pets, until conservation officers killed one of the cats. A hunter killed the second lion the next day. Both animals were two years old and in great physical condition. The predators had learned that the residential area provided easy prey in the form of family dogs that were let out into their yards. The big cats were seemingly indifferent toward the presence of humans, hunting pets near homes and despite outside lights and disturbances. Officials estimate there were ten attacks on pets within a period of a few weeks before the lions were killed.
In a story repeated in numerous states each year, sharpshooters are deployed into residential areas to destroy mountain lions that have followed their main prey source (deer) into neighborhoods. The big cats are discovered through close encounters with homeowners who find lions eating fresh deer kills on their lawns, or when they let their pets outside only to have mountain lions quickly dispatch their pets as prey. Sometimes the pets are snatched from the leashes of their owners while they walk—and when lions become this bold, most wildlife officials will take aggressive action to kill the cat to protect human safety.
For example, in December 2013, officers in Canmore, Canada, killed two mountain lions in a residential area after the predators killed several pets. Canmore is located in a wildlife-rich area just outside the entrance to Banff National Park. One of the mountain lions was killed on an outside deck at a residence. The second lion was killed when the officer walked back to a dog that had been killed by the lions; it refused to retreat as the officer approached. The site was only yards from an incident that occurred three days prior, in which another dog had been attacked and killed while being walked on a leash. Tracks indicated that the woman and her dog had unknowingly been followed for some time prior to the attack. Although wildlife officials expressed concern that such bold mountain lions could proceed from killing dogs to attacking their human companions, there was still criticism of the actions taken to protect the public.
In other cases, a person may be injured in the process of trying to protect their pet. In early 2013, a Washington
state woman was knocked down and scratched by a mountain lion after the woman tried to save her dog from the attacking predator. The woman had just let her small dog out into the yard in a well-developed residential area in the middle of the night when the lion attacked her pet. A sheriff’s deputy arrived at the scene not long afterward and killed the lion in the woman’s yard.
Mountain lions don’t just attack in wooded areas or in large backyards. Some get a little too close to human dwellings. A Manitou Springs, Colorado, man looked out the picture window of his mountain home in March 2013 and found an adult mountain lion peering through the pane. As the man investigated further from within the confines of his residence, he found three other mountain lions inspecting his home. Wildlife managers fear that wild predators demonstrating a lack of fear of humans and human-inhabited areas pose an increased risk to human safety, and some go so far as to state that an animal’s loss of wariness indicates that the risk of attack on humans has increased.
British Columbia conservation officers shot and killed two mountain lions in March 2013—one of the animals was just steps away from a daycare facility. The young male mountain lion was in poor condition, and was seen in a tree near where children were playing during recess. The daycare supervisor spotted the animal, hurried the children inside, and called for help. Once wildlife officials determined the cat was in poor condition, it was destroyed. The other cat was destroyed after it entered a barn and killed the livestock harbored inside.
In May 2013, an off-duty park ranger was attacked by a mountain lion as he fished on the beach in Redwood National and State Parks in California. The man saw his dog being chased by a mountain lion. As the lion approached, he yelled and the lion changed its focus to attacking the man. He fought the animal, hitting the attacking lion several times with his fishing pole and kicking it several times until it retreated. The subadult mountain lion was killed in its nearby hiding place later that day.
South Dakota officials promptly reacted to an emerging pattern of dangerous behavior by mountain lions in the small Black Hills town of Keystone in early May 2013. An adult female lion and her two 40-pound cubs were killed after the lion family spent two weeks demonstrating their presence in a very visible way on town streets, threatening pets, strolling through yards, and even killing a deer on a street near the post office. State wildlife officials killed a fourth lion that same week in the Angostura Recreation Area after finding the lion lingering near a recreational trail, watching people as they hiked and biked. A park ranger observed the lion for nearly half an hour as it intently watched people from a distance of about 20 yards. The state’s regional wildlife supervisor said the cat’s lingering in the area, and its bold behavior, led to the decision to kill the animal because of the threat it posed to the unsuspecting public.
Hunting Controversy
Delwin Benson of Colorado State University notes that the historic pursuit and persecution of mountain lions by humans and dogs has helped to reinforce the cat’s secretive and elusive behavior, thus encouraging their desire to keep their distance from humans. Mountain lions that encounter humans with no negative consequences learn to tolerate people, and their desire to retreat is dulled. Benson suggests mountain lions should be subject to “aversive behavioral conditioning,” such as being pursued with hounds until the lion flees, to reinforce the lesson that humans are threats and should be avoided. Lions would thereby learn that humans are not intruders, and neither are they a prey species.
Voters in some states have banned the sport of hunting mountain lions with hounds in an attempt to protect the big predators, and others have banned lion hunting almost entirely. Wildlife managers believe that when heavy localized hunting results in the harvest of older mature males, more young mountain lions are likely to disperse into these areas, creating an increase in conflicts because young cats are more likely to be involved in close encounters with humans. Wildlife managers in Washington were slated to begin putting this theory to the test in 2013 with the implementation of a new mountain lion management plan. The plan is based on “equilibrium management,” in which hunters will remove no more than the surplus of animals that would be generated through natural reproduction, estimated to be 14 percent of each management area’s lion population.
A study by researchers associated with the Large Carnivore Conservation Lab of Washington State University concluded: “Heavy harvest corresponded with increased immigration, reduced kitten survival, reduced female population growth, and a younger overall age structure. Light harvest corresponded with increased emigration, higher kitten survival, increased female population growth, and an older overall age structure.”
A 2013 paper on mountain lions in western Washington in the Journal of Mammalogy, written by Brian Kertson of the University of Washington and colleagues, recommended that natural resource agencies focus on management strategies targeting problem individuals and maintaining old-age structures in local mountain lion populations, combined with proactive landscape planning and public education in residential areas, to reduce conflicts between humans and their wild feline neighbors.
DEFENSE WITH A FIREARM
Although there has been speculation that even if a person is carrying a weapon when attacked by a predator, the victim won’t have the time or ability to use it correctly, this has been disproven when it comes to victims of attacks by mountain lions. Researchers report that most people who had a firearm when attacked used the weapon effectively, typically killing the mountain lion and ending the encounter.
Walter Howard of the University of California, Davis, has advocated that mountain lions must be hunted to be managed properly, noting that mountain lions are normally shy and wary predators not commonly seen by hikers, hunters, or other people. When mountain lions become very visible, and begin to turn their prey drive toward pets and domesticated animals, Howard maintains these are clues that the lion population has grown too large. He suggests that to show true compassion for lions, wildlife agencies should use licensed hunters as predators to maintain healthy populations of lions in suitable habitat.
Oregon’s 2006 mountain lion management plan seeks to maintain the state’s mountain lion population “at a level well above that required for long-term sustainability.” At the same time, it seeks to resolve conflicts, noting “specific areas with elevated conflict may also be targeted to reduce conflict by reducing cougar numbers.” These targeted areas thus serve as buffer zones of low cougar density to reduce conflicts.
While Oregon’s human population increased 24 percent from 1990 to 2003, the mountain lion population also increased; the estimated population is more than 5,000 animals. Although mountain lions are a hunted game species in Oregon, a 1994 ballot measure banned cougar hunters from using dogs. In early 2013, a number of eastern Oregon counties considered the possibility of opting out of the statewide ban. Legislation was proposed that would give county governments the ability to exempt themselves from the law if local voters approved such a measure, but the bill was quickly defeated.
Most western states allow the public to hunt mountain lions with hounds (with the exception of California, Oregon, and Washington). Using hounds allows hunters to tree the cats and have a good look before taking a shot. This discrimination allows hunters to walk away from lactating females and select for adult males if desired. The Wyoming Game & Fish Department reports that 90 percent of mountain lions harvested by hunters in that state are taken with the use of hounds.
In addition, laws allowing the use of hounds to hunt mountain lions have spawned a new industry of treeing lions for photography— a practice sportswriter Douglas Chadwick called the “big predator equivalent of catch-and-release fishing.” Researchers wanting to place radio collars on mountain lions to study lion ecology also use hounds to tree the animals so they can be sedated and worked on.
Assessing Risk
The most recent assessment of factors governing the human risk of mountain lion attacks was undertaken by the US Geological
Survey’s David Mattson and colleagues, as published in the spring 2011 issue of the journal Human–Wildlife Interactions. Their review indicates that the number of confirmed physical attacks on humans by mountain lions increased by four- to fivefold between the 1970s and 1990s, but has stabilized at around four to six attacks per year since 2000.
Some of the important management findings of the Mattson study:
Young mountain lions in poor condition are more likely to threaten people.
Adult mountain lions are more likely to cause death when they attack.
Possession and use of firearms is effective at preventing physical contact while in a close encounter with a mountain lion.
Mountain lion attacks, and deaths from attacks, are more likely if children are present during a close encounter.
Adult intervention reduces the chances that an attacked child will die from a mountain lion attack.
Aggressive behavior from humans in close encounters with mountain lions lessens the odds of attack.
The presence of dogs during the day reduces the odds of a mountain lion attacking a person.
Researcher Paul Beier of the University of California noted that there is no such thing as “zero risk” when it comes to mountain lion attacks on humans, but there is ample support for removal of offending animals when attacks occur. He concluded, from the cases he reviewed, that “when an attacking cougar was not removed, there was a 30 percent chance of a second attack within 50 miles and two years. . . . Thus it appears that leaving the offending animal in the wild may increase the risk of a future attack.”
Continued Conflicts
Local governments and agencies continue to struggle with public perceptions of mountain lion ecology and management. In 2013, public reaction to the killing of several problem mountain lions in California—where lions are listed as a “specially protected species” under a state law that makes it illegal to hunt, harm, capture, or harass them with the exception of certain circumstances—prompted wildlife officials to adopt new rules expanding the use of nonlethal methods to address problem cats.