SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - Many people think of cougars as large, beautiful cats. But they have killed people, so it's important to know what cougars or mountain lions really are and how you should act in an unexpected meeting.
Cougars are really scaredy cats. However, they also have big teeth, big claws and a big appetite for meat. Their favorite meal is deer, but the fact is, humans and cougars are meeting by chance more and more these days.
August 19, 2005: A cougar was caught roaming the streets of West Valley City. He was released back into the Oquirrh Mountains.
April 15, 2006: A cougar attacked a 7-year-old boy in Boulder, Colorado. The boy was last in line on a group hike. He was hospitalized in serious condition with bites and puncture wounds to his head.
January 10, 2004: A mountain lion attacked and killed a dog in the Holladay area. Wildlife officers caught the cat but had to put it down because he was in such bad shape.
January 8, 2004: In the foothills of southern California a mountain biker was seriously injured when a cat jumped on her from a tree. When police got there, they found the body of another mountain biker killed by the same cougar a couple days before.
Officials say so far no one has been killed by a cougar attack in Utah.
"During the summer they are typically up in the higher elevations and heavier forests. But in the winter when there's a lot of snowfall, they may come down to the outskirts of the valley," said David Stoner with Utah State University.
Stoner is the project leader of a cougar study at USU. He tracks cougar movement on Monroe Mountain in southern Utah and the Oquirrh Mountains on the west side of the Salt Lake valley.
Stoner's research indicates there are 25-30 mountain lions in the Oquirrhs. It's an ideal habitat, but also a habitat with homes nearby.
Dr. Michael Wolfe is a professor of Wildland Resources at Utah State University. He has studied cougars in the Oquirrhs since 1996. Wolfe said for the most part, the mountain lions stay in the mountains, but there have been occasional animals that go into town.
"Often time those are sub-adults trying to figure out what the world is all about," Wolfe said. He said normally these teenage cats are not dangerous, but the potential is there.
So the question then is: What do you do if you meet a mountain lion?
If you meet one in the wild, Stoner said to act aggressively. "The cougar responds very well toward aggression. Act aggressively in the sense of yelling, throwing rocks, even moving toward it. They'll probably turn around and run," he said.
Stoner also said the one thing a person really doesn't want to do is turn around and run away from the cougar. That triggers the cougar's predatory response and then you are behaving like their prey.
If you find a cougar roaming in your own backyard, experts said the best thing to do is to retreat into the house with your pets and children and call the Division of Wildlife Resources and report the incident. This is good advice you may never need to use, but need to know.
"It's a very rare occurrence. In fact, some people figure out your likelihood of getting killed by a bee sting is greater," said Wolfe.
