Animal attacks are never something you want to hear about. Whether it be an isolated incident or a commonality in another part of the world, it's tragic to hear a life was lost.
In Seattle, Washington two cyclists found themselves face to face with a cougar, more commonly known as a mountain lion. This encounter was out of the ordinary for the area and the outcome was even more surprising. A 32-year-old male lost his life when attacked by the cougar and dragged back to its den.
The other cyclist, a 34-year-old male, was injured but managed to get on his bike and find a phone to call 911; after which he was taken to the hospital and was treated for his injuries.
Officers later tracked the cougar and killed it. This decision was not questioned by very many people, as the animal was now "dangerous." However, if these animals are so dangerous, why do we allow some of them to roam freely in populated areas?
It is reported that around 2,000 cougars roam Washington freely. Attacks from these animals are rare, however, with only 25 fatal attacks in the last century.
When faced with a cougar, there are a couple guidelines you are meant to follow. The first being that you should not instigate it. Don't throw things at it and don't taunt it. The second thing you should remember is that you should be backing away slowly from the cougar. Do not turn your back and don't move quickly. The last and most important guideline is that you need to be loud and be big. Make as much noise as possible and don't bend down. Make yourself as big and tall as you can.
When these two men were faced with this cougar, they reportedly were trying their best to spook the cougar away. In fact, they swung a bicycle at it, which caused it to run off into the woods and subsequently attack.
Another important fact about the attack that is being ignored is that the cougar was most likely starving. The cougar was reported to be 100 pounds, which is nearly 80 pounds underweight.
This fact really means one of two things. Either this cougar was not able to find anything to eat and was starving due to lack of availability of food, or the cougar was unable to hunt most prey for an unknown reason. However, due to the fact it did indeed hunt in its final moments, the latter seems unlikely.
These possibilities bring us back to the main problem, which is allowing cougars to roam freely in populated areas. The only thing this accomplishes is man's need to hunt. Washington allows 250 of their 2,000 cougars to be hunted; which can be assumed as being the main reason they have not been released in the wild, where no attacks would happen.
Cougars are allowed to roam freely in Washington, even though they are predators. However, we kill them when they act like predators.
This cougar was killed for doing exactly what its done for all time and according to County Sheriff Sgt. Ryan Abbott, "something was wrong with this cougar."
The best thing we can do for these animals is to release them to an area where there aren't people because all we tend to do is kill anything we have a small problem with and cougar's, by nature, are predators.
As cougars are protected in Bolivia, Brazil, Columbia, Costa Rica and many other countries, America can take extra steps to take care of these animals.