Science and Digital Briefs By Shopper Editor Dave Bunting

Cougar
By Dave Bunting, including excerpts from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the Wildlife Department of British Columbia
The cougar, the largest wild cat native to North America, is an imposing but evasive member of our wildlife. His secretive habits, and sometimes astounding predatory abilities (the cougar is capable of killing a 600 pound moose or elk), have resulted in a wealth of human misconceptions and irrational fears. In some instances, “control” programs responding to these fears placed severe and unwarranted hunting pressure upon cougar populations.
Appearance and
 Distribution
The adult cougar is a large animal: the heaviest recorded was an Arizona cougar that weighed 276 pounds. Although there have been several cougar taken in British Columbia weighing between 190 and 210 pounds, the average adult male weighs about 125 pounds and the female 100 pounds. Large adult males may measure 9 feet in length, including a 30-inch tail.
The cougar is found only in the Western Hemisphere, from northern British Columbia to Patagonia in southern Argentina. In Canada, the cougar has been recorded from British Columbia east to New Brunswick. Distribution in British Columbia extends north from the United States – British Columbia border to Big Muddy River on the Alaska Highway South of about 54 degrees latitude cougar are generally found from the British Columbia-Alberta border west, to and including, most coastal islands. Cougar have not reached the Queen Charlotte Islands.
Following snowfalls in December 2015, numerous cougar tracks were identified definitely by a skilled Eastern Lewis County cougar hunter in and near the Timberline and High Valley residential areas northeast of Packwood.
Territory
The territory or home range of individual cougar has been recognized for many years, but only recently have accurate limits been assigned to these ranges. Early estimates suggested that cougar maintained home ranges of up to, or greater than, 100 square miles. In Idaho, where the winter territory of cougar was examined, females on the study area maintained territories of 5 to 20 square miles. Females with kittens required larger ranges than females without kittens, and some overlap of female ranges was noticed. Males occupied larger territories – one male occupied a range of 25 square miles.
Food Habits
The predatory activities of the cougar are legendary, and prey species range from large animals to mice, and include deer, porcupine, beaver, varying hare, moose, elk, wild sheep, mountain goats, black bear (cubs), grouse, coyote, other cougar, domestic stock, and household pets.
There are few authentic instances of cougar attacking humans. Normal behavior is one of human avoidance, although cougar often displays a harmless curiosity toward the actions of man. They have been observed sitting at a vantage point and watching, sometimes for hours, people either working or playing out of doors. Hunters, and others, have reported the tracks of a cougar following their own in the snow. The infrequent attacks on humans are usually attributed to old, starving cougar, or to cougar that are defending their young.
When hunting the larger ungulates, cougar do not crouch over or near a game trail waiting for the unsuspecting prey to pass nearby. The kill is usually made following a careful stalk of the intended victim. Cougar hunters have observed that cats must make a kill within two or three jumps, usually 20 to 50 feet after their stalk. If the prey escapes, the cougar will rarely follow, and the stalk will be repeated upon a different animal. The kill follows a sudden leap from the ground onto the shoulders and neck of the prey. The most effective kills are made when the cougar holds the head with a forepaw and bites down through the back of the neck, near the base of the skull.
Kills are not always quick or successful and the larger prey, particularly large elk, moose, or deer, will struggle violently to escape. Instances where cougar have been seriously hurt following such encounters are infrequent, but not unheard-of.
Wasteful behavior in the killing of prey is the exception and not the rule. Cougar generally eat about 70 per cent (by weight) of the carcass of a big-game animal, leaving most of the larger skeletal bones, the rumen, some viscera, and parts of the hide. They will make repeated visits to a carcass, take a meal during each visit, and usually cover the remains with dirt and debris after each feed.
Although there have been observations where a single cougar has killed several deer, domestic sheep, etc., at one time, detailed studies have shown an adult cougar needs no more than 14 to 20 average-sized mule deer per year. This will be less if the diet is supplemented by other foods.
Encounters
Cougar attacks on humans are extremely rare. In North America, roughly 25 fatalities and 95 nonfatal attacks have been reported during the past 100 years. However, more cougar attacks have been reported in the western United States and Canada over the past 20 years than in the previous 80. In Washington, of the one fatal and fifteen nonfatal attacks reported here in the past 100 years, seven attacks occurred since 1990.
It is extraordinarily unlikely that you will encounter a cougar in the wild. Many lifelong Forest Service employees have worked their entire careers in the forest without ever seeing a cougar while working. Experienced southwestern Washington forest workers consider ridiculous being fearful of an attack by a cougar… or, for that matter, a bear or any other wild animal. However…
If you encounter 
a cougar:
Stop, stand tall and don’t run. Pick up small children. Don’t run. A cougar’s instinct is to chase.
Do not approach the animal, especially if it is near a kill or with kittens. Go away quickly from a killed deer or other prey animal.
Try to appear larger than the cougar. Never take your eyes off the animal or turn your back. Be angry! Do not crouch down or try to hide. If the cougar remains where you can see it, walk backwards to safety.
If the animal displays aggressive behavior, shout, wave your arms, pick up and wave a large stick, and throw rocks. The idea is to convince the cougar that you are not prey, but a potential danger.
If the cougar attacks, fight back aggressively and try to stay on your feet. Cougars have been driven away by people who have fought back. Many people have survived cougar attacks.