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Monday, December 12, 2022
Seems a mountain lion has been confirmed in northeast Oklahoma
Which doesn't surprise me: after being called extinct in the state for a long time they were found in the west, so why spreading out east would surprise anyone, I don't know.
Happily this is a state where, if you go into the woods, you can carry a gun just in case. Chances of needing it for a lion, low. Probably very low. Illegal aliens, drugrunners and such, considerably higher.
I think that if 20% of the humans in the woods are armed and have trained well enough to have a 50-50 chance against a puma, any healthy puma will regard a confrontation with humans as far too risky and avoid anything carrying human scent whenever possible. That will include pets, farm outbuildings, and usually livestock if it's regularly handled by humans.
That does not guarantee _no_ attacks. Just like lions in Africa and tigers in India, pumas that can catch enough wild animals to feed themselves will avoid humans, but crippled, sick, or very old ones may get hungry enough to risk an attack. And then they find that most of us and our critters are safe and easy prey - until they kill too much and we hire a professional hunter to exterminate the "rogue".
Peter Capstick once wrote about why the difference in people-munching between leopard, cougar, and jaguar. A big jaguar makes a big leopard look small, cougar are about the same size and ability, but those two rarely do it, while leopard do far more. All he could suggest was a difference in attitude.
Lots of places in North America, where people do hit the woods armed, cougar seem to have the idea; places like California, not so much. Which is probably why they're having the coyote attacks as well. Give the critters the idea that attacking the bipeds is a low-risk activity, and you won't like the results.
2 comments:
I think that if 20% of the humans in the woods are armed and have trained well enough to have a 50-50 chance against a puma, any healthy puma will regard a confrontation with humans as far too risky and avoid anything carrying human scent whenever possible. That will include pets, farm outbuildings, and usually livestock if it's regularly handled by humans.
That does not guarantee _no_ attacks. Just like lions in Africa and tigers in India, pumas that can catch enough wild animals to feed themselves will avoid humans, but crippled, sick, or very old ones may get hungry enough to risk an attack. And then they find that most of us and our critters are safe and easy prey - until they kill too much and we hire a professional hunter to exterminate the "rogue".
Peter Capstick once wrote about why the difference in people-munching between leopard, cougar, and jaguar. A big jaguar makes a big leopard look small, cougar are about the same size and ability, but those two rarely do it, while leopard do far more. All he could suggest was a difference in attitude.
Lots of places in North America, where people do hit the woods armed, cougar seem to have the idea; places like California, not so much. Which is probably why they're having the coyote attacks as well. Give the critters the idea that attacking the bipeds is a low-risk activity, and you won't like the results.
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