cougar attack

[peapod]

4 year-old attacked by cougar
Last updated Jul 28 2005 07:48 AM PDT
CBC News
A little girl is in hospital after being mauled by a cougar near Zeballos on northern Vancouver Island on Wednesday.




The child, who had been playing outside, suffered serious head and scalp injuries.

She was airlifted to hospital in Campbell River, and then flown to Vancouver. Officials say she is expected to survive.

While details of the attack are still sketchy, a conservation officer says family members intervened to scare the cougar away.

The RCMP and conservation officers are now hunting for the animal.

FROM JULY 5, 2005: Cougar attack triggers warning
There was a warning following another Island cougar attack earlier this month, that the big cats are struggling to survive because of "low prey populations."

Conservation officers say that people who come face to face with a cougar should try to look as big as they can, make lots of noise and back up slowly.

LINK: B.C. government's cougar safety guide
INTERVIEW: On The Island's Susan Elrington speaks with conservation officer Peter Pauwels.

http://vancouver.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=bc_cougar-attack20050728

 

[Twila]

That poor cougar. I hate hearing this kind of stuff. I hate to hear how now a cougar (not necesarily the right cougar) will pay the price for human intervention.

What's a 4yr old doing out alone after a warning is issued in an area known for cougars and black bears? Maybe the parents could be fed to the cougars. It might help.........save other kids and cougars

 

[peapod]

I hear twinks that they were at a local swimming hole, the cat just came and went for the 4 year old, the mother went after him with the cooler. That part of the island seem to have most of the cougar attacks...I saw one once 8O 8O 8O 8O 8O pictures do not do them justice. * gulps*

 

[mrmom2]

One chased my buddy on his sled once and he didn't even know it 8O The guy behind him on the trail watched the whole thing .Freaked him right out when heard how close it actually got to him .It was on a trail at the Kelowna snowmobile club :wink:

 

[peapod]

Well my experience was somewhat more safer mom...me mother and myself were on a logging road, near port hardy....we love logging roads, they are like a box of chocolates, yous never know what your gonna see or find 8)

Anyhos...there we were driving along the logging road...and wtf 8O 8O out of the brush comes a mama cougar and cub..Oi! and double Oi! I tells you mom...she ran along side the car for a bit..Oi! again I say mom...it was nothing but a lean mean..muscle machine..you could see the power and the size of the mitts 8O 8O like I said mom...Oi and double Oi! no blahs...just Oi's 8O

 

[Reverend Blair]

I had a cougar chase me around the bar once. That was so long ago that we hadn't named them yet though, we just called them horny old women. I'll bet that woman who chased me around the bar is about the same age I am now.

 

[peapod]

do you still have your entire skull and bits??? as in orbits, if so, than you gots the wrong kind of cougar preacher. :lol: :lol:

 

[manda]

hmmm...makes me ponder this whole leaving my island thing ever.....we have no bears, deer, moose, cougars..you know the mean stuff

 

[Haggis McBagpipe]

Re: RE: cougar attack

hmmm...makes me ponder this whole leaving my island thing ever.....we have no bears, deer, moose, cougars..you know the mean stuff

I like the sound of that, it'd be nice to go hiking or camping without a thought to creatures leaping out at one. Although one might quibble at listing deer in with the mean stuff.

I wonder why Vancouver Island even has bears, et al.? What did the buggers do, swim across?

 

[Twila]

I wonder why Vancouver Island even has bears, et al.? What did the buggers do, swim across?

Yep, they island hop. swim from one island to the next. I remember a story about a reservation way up island that had called wild life conservation repeatedly about a grizzly bear that kept walking through town. THey were told there were no grizzly bears on the island.

So they shot the bear and called conservation again to come and have a look. And guess what? It WAS a grizzly bear. Which is really too bad, the poor creature had to loose it's life because somebody refused to even check out the story.


Back to the cougars. The news reports said the little girl wondered off down the path ahead of her parents. I remember taking my daughter and the dogs for hikes through the bush. The only thing walking ahead of or behind me were the dogs. I remember one hike in particular where Twister (our staffy) growled and snarled at something off the path a few feet ahead of us. She was blocking the path. I took heed. Did not try to pass her. Turned around and walked away. Funny, it was the only time I'd every heard her growl and snarl at anything. I don't know what it was but since we were in cougar and bear territory I listened to the warnings......

 

[Haggis McBagpipe]

Re: RE: cougar attack

Twila, your story reminds me of a time up at Wells Grey Park in December. My husband, daughter and I were hiking with Angus the Overweight Border Collie. Now, in all the time we've had Angus, he's never showed fear of anything, but suddenly he was just terrified. Mind you, unlike YOUR dog, OUR dog took immediate action... he ran BEHIND the three of us to safety, quivering and whining. He figured if someone was going to get it, it might just as well be one of us 'cause it sure wasn't going to be him. Then suddenly, he was fine and happy again, so we assumed that whatever it was had left. We never saw a thing.

Anyway, you are right that a dog can very much serve as a warning... one way or another!

PS Thanks for the info about the bears, I had always wondered about that... sure shoots down my contingency plan to swim for it if ever confronted by a bear.

 

[Cosmo]

A few years back a guy was working in his office, middle of the day, here in James Bay (very tip of the Island, a few blocks from downtown Victoria). He saw movement from the corner of his eye. Turned out to be a cougar in the office building. They figured it had come down along the water line. He ran out of his office, managed to shut the door and they called animal control.

Lots of cougar here on the Rock! I used to think about it when I was walking home from work at 2 or 3 in the morning!

 

[Twila]

PS Thanks for the info about the bears, I had always wondered about that... sure shoots down my contingency plan to swim for it if ever confronted by a bear.

I've always been told to make as much noise as possible while walking in the woods. This way you give the bear plenty of opportunity to avoid you. Should you still run into a bear after making all this noise then there isn't much that's going to save you except a really big gun. Cause grizzly's like to hunt.

 

[mrmom2]

Yea and pack a big gun

 

[Jay]

You’re not allowed to protect yourself with a gun....

 

[peapod]

I seriously doubt a gun would do you any good with a cougar, they are stealth, you cannot hear them or see them...they are cat :? :? A bear on the other hand you can hear coming through the bush a mile away. :lol:

Last time I was in telegraph cove I heard a very interesting story, which speaks to the stealth of cougars. Apparently a family from new york were kayaking around the broughton archipelago. At one of the small island they stopped and took a rest. Apparently when they got home and had their pictures developed...on the small island up in the tree was a cougar watching them...they had no idea 8O 8O

 

[Jay]

http://www.bchunter.com/hunting-cougar.asp

 

[manda]

I seriously doubt a gun would do you any good with a cougar, they are stealth, you cannot hear them or see them...they are cat :? :? A bear on the other hand you can hear coming through the bush a mile away. :lol:

Last time I was in telegraph cove I heard a very interesting story, which speaks to the stealth of cougars. Apparently a family from new york were kayaking around the broughton archipelago. At one of the small island they stopped and took a rest. Apparently when they got home and had their pictures developed...on the small island up in the tree was a cougar watching them...they had no idea 8O 8O

eep 8O ! you should move here and bring UVic with you....leave the cougars out there

 

[Twila]

I seriously doubt a gun would do you any good with a cougar, they are stealth, you cannot hear them or see them...they are cat

Cougars don't (usually) attack adult humans....only small humans, and pets. In which case you'd best keep your yungins with ya.

 

[peapod]

That link of yours jay makes me sick, chicken shit men...blah! nothin brave there...I gots to go now...hammie is here...man I have not seen her in ages 8) we gots some catching up to do... :wink: