Cougars

**Keith Fleming** · 21-Jun-2021, 15:17

My late wife reported hearing a scream from what she thought was a cougar out behind the house. After she died, I heard the same thing one summer evening. But the bird identification book says that fledgling Great Horned Owls also scream for food from the parents. For some reason, what I heard did sound somewhat owlish, so I suspect that is what I heard. Can anyone comment on whether some reports of cougars screaming might just be Great Horned Owl fledglings?
Keith

**Drew Wiley** · 21-Jun-2021, 19:22

Alan. It made no difference to the cougars if we were armed or not. They followed us due to curiosity. And in this case "curiosity didn't kill the cat." They took extreme care not to be noticed, but we had set up a tag team system to fool them. Once they figured out they'd been made, they instantly ran off back into the woods. Cougars are instinctively very shy of people, even when routinely around people. But a few of them are learning how to suburbanize themselves, just like coyotes and raccoons and skunks and so forth. There are plenty of deer inside city limits too. Humans aren't viewed as food. Remember, they've had at least fifteen thousands of years in the Western Hemisphere of cumulative experience and genetic adaptation to the fact that the most aggressive and successful species of predator is actually us. They have good reason to be more afraid of us than we are of them.

**BKP** · 21-Jun-2021, 21:58

Here in B.C. we had bounty on cougars in the fifties and sixties. Seeing one after that was rare except in higher elevations. There are many on south-eastern B.C. and Vancouver Island. Every summer in the village where I reside, there are and will be cougars and black bears roaming around town in the evening/night. We tend to not report the bears but definitely the cougars. The cougars will take domestic cats, small dogs, chickens etc. The bears are after fruit trees and berries. One hiker that know, often shares the blackberry bush with the bear, they are five feet apart but out of sight to each other. Both aware of each other's presence. One elderly lady regularly chases out the bear from her garden with a corn broom to his butt. It must be a game to the bear, he's back the next day. The Conservation Officer traps them, tags them relocates them and then they're back. If they are still around in late September then they are "made an offer they can't refuse" And next year same situation different bear. Cougars have been known to over night in peoples gardens but they are usually "outed" by the dog community. Grizzly bears have recently (within last ten years) been sighted on the Island. They swim from the mainland, "island hopping." Not looking forward to meeting one of them. Stay safe. When in bear country I carry an empty beer can with a small stone in it and rattle it. I can tell by tracks in mud and droppings that it works very well.

**Alan Klein** · 22-Jun-2021, 06:01

Originally Posted by Drew Wiley

Alan. It made no difference to the cougars if we were armed or not. They followed us due to curiosity. And in this case "curiosity didn't kill the cat." They took extreme care not to be noticed, but we had set up a tag team system to fool them. Once they figured out they'd been made, they instantly ran off back into the woods. Cougars are instinctively very shy of people, even when routinely around people. But a few of them are learning how to suburbanize themselves, just like coyotes and raccoons and skunks and so forth. There are plenty of deer inside city limits too. Humans aren't viewed as food. Remember, they've had at least fifteen thousands of years in the Western Hemisphere of cumulative experience and genetic adaptation to the fact that the most aggressive and successful species of predator is actually us. They have good reason to be more afraid of us than we are of them.

Believe it or not, there are plenty of cougars in Manhattan.
https://beyondages.com/locations-for...s-in-new-york/

**Drew Wiley** · 22-Jun-2021, 09:21

Craziest cougar story of em all so far, from last nite's local news broadcast. Across the Bay yesterday, a mountain lion broke into an occupied home by shattering the glass patio door. It turns out that what it saw through that door was the trophy room, with all kinds of big games heads mounted on the walls - antlered deer, elk, bighorn sheep etc.