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Cougar Attack
Perhaps many of you know there was a cougar attack on Saturday just north of my town of North Bend. One bike rider was killed another injured.
Seattle Times Article I was out riding when it happened and it wasn't me obviously. There's been a roll call by our local bike club but so far, no one I know was involved. |
Scary.
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very Scary, I just have to worry about oblivious drivers in Seattle.
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Scary. We have a cougar that has been sighted within a half mile of the family cabin near the BWCA. I do worry when the younger visitors are out playing in the woods. It’s impossible to keep them inside and watch them, when they should be out enjoying themselves. In addition, I mtb through this area constantly, often alone. My wife worries when I do this. |
Ignore my PM.
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This was on the side of one of our club ride roads this week. most likely hit by a car
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...c4f0c1e2cb.jpg |
Scary stuff, for sure. I saw a young adult cougar in Oregon, a few years ago now. They say if you see a cougar in the wild, chances are, you won't live to tell about it. I was lucky, I guess. 🤔
I'm pretty sure it comes down to what they said in that article, young adults finding their limits & territory. |
We've had one sighted most of the winter locally.
https://www.tmj4.com/news/local-news...t-porch-window |
I saw a cougar once with 3 cubs. I was heading up some switchbacks in Big Bend National Park when I saw it coming down the path with a cub. My heart rate went up and it wasn't due to all the climbing I had been doing! I went down to the V in the switchback and got on top of a boulder. I know you are supposed to make yourself look as large as possible. I sure as heck did not want to go down the switchback and put her higher than me. I heard all this rustling and then around 15 minutes later she comes padding down the path and not 1 but 3 cubs get behind her and head down the path. She put her body between her cubs and me. Once they were safely gone, I headed up and finished the hike. What the heck that could have been bad.
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Originally Posted by stardognine
(Post 20350413)
Scary stuff, for sure. I saw a young adult cougar in Oregon, a few years ago now. They say if you see a cougar in the wild, chances are, you won't live to tell about it. I was lucky, I guess. 🤔
I'm pretty sure it comes down to what they said in that article, young adults finding their limits & territory. |
The standard advice to not run may not actually be the best advice.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/a...mountain-lion/ Richard Coss, a psychology professor and expert on the evolution of predator–prey relationships at the University of California, Davis, studied the behavior of 185 people who were attacked by mountain lions (aka pumas or cougars) between 1890 and 2000 in the U.S. and Canada. His findings, reported in Anthrozoos: A Multidisciplinary Journal of the Interactions of People & Animals: half of the 18 people who ran when they were attacked escaped injury. The study also found, however, that those who ran had a slightly higher chance of being killed in an attack—28 percent (five) of those who fled died as a result of injuries, compared with 23 percent (eight) of those who remained motionless during big cat attacks. About 39 percent, or 28 people, who moved away slowly when approached by a mountain lion escaped without injury. |
There are predators out there where we like to ride - cougars, bears, and wolves. A surprised moose can attack you as well. I worry more about humans, they are very unpredictable.
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It sounds like it may be a good idea to carry bear spray if you ride around there.
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Originally Posted by Kactus
(Post 20350720)
It sounds like it may be a good idea to carry bear spray if you ride around there.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...8f97c84ee3.jpg DD |
And a cannon, or .357 ;)
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Originally Posted by stardognine
(Post 20350413)
Scary stuff, for sure. I saw a young adult cougar in Oregon, a few years ago now. They say if you see a cougar in the wild, chances are, you won't live to tell about it.
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Originally Posted by dweenk
(Post 20350660)
There are predators out there where we like to ride - cougars, bears, and wolves. A surprised moose can attack you as well. I worry more about humans, they are very unpredictable.
Coyotes too. |
I have never seen one. They exist in our western areas, I think.
Bears seem to be more common. We have bobcats here, but they are extremely shy. Coyotes are everywhere. The night-vision video of them walking around in the Chicago 'burbs is very cool. I must admit, after being on the road for a couple of days, the thread title had me a bit excited. |
My riding partner carries a handgun when we mtb ride. We have cougars all around us. I have had wolf encounters near my yard. Oh and bears. |
The man who survived said he had his entire head in the cougar's mouth, but his friend ran away and the animal chased him, officials told KOMO. Survivor's Strava page: https://www.strava.com/athletes/203437 logged a ride on Friday, didn't upload Saturday. |
Originally Posted by northbend
(Post 20350123)
Perhaps many of you know there was a cougar attack on Saturday just north of my town of North Bend. One bike rider was killed another injured.
Seattle Times Article I was out riding when it happened and it wasn't me obviously. There's been a roll call by our local bike club but so far, no one I know was involved. It's a harrowing story. |
We have urban coyotes in Portland; actually most NW wildlife makes an appearance within city limits at least once during the year.
As far as the coyotes are concerned, I bumped into one (in Irvington! no less) while walking home from a bar crawl one night a few years ago. I noticed its silhouette wasn't that of a dog, stopped to look more intently (it was across the street; for my fellow locals, this happened at about 17th & Brazee). It noticed me, took a few steps into the light and sniffed, apparently just as curious as I was, then wandered back into the shadows. About a half a block later, I met an elderly woman who'd been out on a walk, seen the coyote, and had been watching it for several minutes. She asked me if it was indeed a coyote and (having seen any number of them when I lived in Utah) confirmed that it was. - |
Wow thats pretty crazy. Here in north idaho we have our fair share of wild animals but haven't come across any attacks that I know of.
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