A group of five cyclists were riding on a trail in Fall City, Wash., when they were attacked by at least one cougar this past weekend.
Officers euthanized and removed one young male 75-pound cougar on arrival
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A 60-year-old female was hospitalized for non-life threatening injuries, but is in stable condition
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Such attacks rarely end up fatal.
Apparently they do end up fatal. Just not for the humans.
Seems wrong to kill the animal when a bunch of guys rode bicycles through his house
Seems wrong to kill the animal period.
Well I mean if he forced himself into the mountain biker’s house and murdered him, I could see it. But these guys went into puma land and said, “oh no there’s pumas here!”
I suppose if he did that, sure. But you could say that about pretty much any animal. They don’t even have to commit murder. They euthanize raccoons for moving into someone’s attic.
And even there, I don’t really blame the animal. What was there first, a house or a raccoon habitat? I’m guessing not the house.
“ Officers euthanized and removed one young male 75-pound cougar on arrival”
That is bullshit.
Why? Because we keep sprawling outwards into wildlife’s territory and act surprised when humans get attacked by the animals we’ve infringed on that are only doing what they do in nature and finally instead of relocating the animal we murder it instead?
Yah, that is some grade A bullshit.
Didn’t read the article?
Mountain lions rarely, rarely attack humans. We have Florida Panthers here, and not a single attack on record in this county. And this is one of the oldest inhabited areas in America, let alone Florida.
They don’t see humans as food or competitors. A hulking, and beautiful, male came across me on a lonely creek. Probably paused to have a look, but I didn’t see him so much as glance at me.
The very reason this is news is because it’s so rare.
The article does nothing to refute what I said.
I live in the area where this happened. I am aware attacks are not frequent, but they keep developing and building homes further out into the hills and forests here. A day or two prior to this attack, there was a different mountain lion walking around another community (Buckley, I think) that has pushed outwards a bit more just like Fall City/Snoqualmie. Buckley/Enumclaw is just a bit south, but similarly pushing into the hills with their sprawl.
Mostly what happens is that we have “sightings” or see the cats stalking, but no attack. More of that will happen because we are pushing outwards further into the forests. It isn’t rocket surgery. Our home is much further west “in town” but still well forested, so we see bobcats, bears, deer/elk and of course coyotes are everywhere. We do not let our pets remain outdoors.
I am sad they shot the cat and I am sad we put the cat in that situation.
And what would you have done? Release an apex predator back into the wild? One who has shown no compunction as to attacking humans?
Perhaps we should cordon off 30-125mi^2 (typical range) for an indeterminate time?
Release an apex predator back into the wild? One who has shown no compunction as to attacking humans?
Sounds good to me. Maybe humans should stop riding their bikes through its territory. Would you ride your bike where you knew grizzly bears roamed around? I hope not.
Perhaps we should cordon off 30-125mi2 (typical range) for an indeterminate time?
Literally, unironically, and enthusiastically YES.
I grew up in a small town. We had two Wells Fargo banks on different ends of town. There was a female banker that looked like she was probably about forty who, whenever I would go into the branch closest to my house, would flirt with me so much that I eventually went to the other branch to avoid her.
Worst porno ever, my guy.
Everybody’s upset about the catamount being killed, but nobody seems to notice the “attacked by at least one” part. Are pumas hunting in packs now? Will we have hordes of mountain lions swarming through our suburbs?
There is likely to be a few hunting together when they are younger and this one sounds like a juvenile. A few years ago there was another attack west of this one, but it was fatal. It was also a juvenile that likely did not learn how to hunt properly. https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/crews-responding-to-report-of-mountain-lion-attack-near-north-bend/752771730/
It doesn’t have to what with all these juicy humans just strolling about.
I read that as a polite acknowledgement that the people attacked thought they saw two, but it likely wasn’t the case.
Sort of like mass shootings - people frequently report multiple shooters in the chaos of the attack but it’s almost never true.
I figured, I just wanted to use a bunch of different names for panther
I’m a big fan of John Catamount Mellencamp.
Florida Panthers down here. :)
I’m a third generation Penn State grad so to me it will always be the Nittany Lion
This is why I wear full plate mail when I MTB: Sure it doesn’t have fancy stuff like MIPS but those mountain lions have one hell of a time getting through it!
mountain bikers
cyclists
Pick one.
