Man killed by mountain lion.

This story starts maybe last March, when a mountain lion took a cat from a porch, ignoring the people sitting there. Last week a couple across the road from us were walking their adolescent Great Dane when they saw a mountain lion on the other side of a barbed wire fence. The cat hissed and laid his ears back, warning them not to come closer. The next day they met the same lion but this time it stalked them all the way home, even following them up their long and winding driveway. It went on up the mountain, where it stopped and observed them. Mr. D. loaded a shotgun with three non-lethal beanbag shots, and then three lethal shots, let them use it because he was too sick (dehydration and fatigue) to take a morning walk. Wednesday a neighbor woke up to find the lion on his deck, an hour or so later the man who had our shotgun and who lives across the canyon from the first one, started his walk, found the lion waiting for him. He shot at it, thinks he hit in the flank with one of the beanbag shots. The idea was to tell the lion to stay away. That night a man on the outskirts of Pinos Altos, a village maybe a mile from here as the raven flies, was showering on a rock outside his cabin, when the lion took him. He was found the next day (yesterday) partially eaten. DNR shot at the lion with a shotgun, found a brief blood trail. More people and dogs will be out tomorrow looking for it. I've seen news reports that this is the first time since 1947 that a lion has killed anyone in New Mexico. We live in rough country and will always have a mountain lion for a neighbor, but didn't expect this.

The irony for us - Mr. D. wrote a novel about a man-eating tiger loose in the mountains of North Georgia, a story where the tiger and a hunter battle for the soul of a young boy. The book was basically sympathetic to the cat. The novel, Shikar, is now out in paperback as Maneater. A movie of the book, maybe the worst movie ever made, was on the Sci-Fi channel this winter.

Thanks for listening. When something like this happens so close to home I need to talk about it.

Because of where I live and the fact that I often hike, with DOGS (aka cat bait) ... the thought just freaks me out. That and you don't usually know they're there until it sinks it's teeth into the back of your neck. Yeah. :scared:

Good luck when you hike and listen to your instincts. I think the wife's sense that they should go no further and should turn back NOW is what saved our neighbors the day the lion stalked them.

This cat seemed exceedinly comfortable around people, didn't bother to hide. This isn't urban area where the animal turns to people because there's a lack of game. There's pleny of game here - one day this week I counted nine deer in our back four. I'll be interested in what the autopsy on the animal finds.

an ex-boyfriend of mine used to work a cougar sanctuary and said it only took about 2 weeks of being in close contact with humans for a cougar to lose it's fear of humans. Any wild cat that couldn't be released before the two week deadline was placed another with another organisation or zoo, never released back into the wild.

Sad for everyone. I'm so sorry about your friend.:(

We didn't know - though everyone else seems to have known - that for the last month someone on the road was feeding the animal, hoping to get photographs of it. That someone should be sued for everything s/he's worth, at the least. I feel sick at my stomach.

Fuck yeah they should!!! Damn, if there aren't laws against that already, there certainly should be. What a fucking moron.

I was wrong - the body was found today.

:evilgrin:

Plenty of cougars though

as look at one. They're fucking evil.

Redstone

Fact. About a year ago female lion was hit by a car and killed on the paved road that runs through our area.

What if the female had a cub who hadn't yet learned to hunt.

Fact. A donkey was attacked by a lion, hurt in the hindquarters but not attacked in the neck. The donkey survived.

What if the lion who attacked the donkey was the cub who hadn't learned to hunt.

Fact. In February a lion took a housecat sunning itself on a ledge, ignored its owners who were sitting closeby.

Fact. In the spring a neighbor started complaining that the man across the road was feeding raw chicken to a mountain lion.

What if a week or so ago the man feeding the lion went on vacation or stopped feeding the animal?

Fact. June 12 a couple walking their dog saw the lion behind a barbed wire fence on the alleged feeder's property. Lion hissed and laid back its ears, telling them not to come closer.

Fact. June 13 same couple were stalked and followed home by same lion, met them at same place. Call Game & Fish, who say there will always be a lion in this area.

What if the lion hoped they'd give him raw chicken. After all, that's what humans do.

June 17. People across the road from us see the lion foraging in their trash can.

What if lion was starving, doesn't know how to take down one of the many mule deer in the area. So much game that there's no reason for a lion to kill a human unless that's all it can do.

Fact. June 18. Couple wake up to find the lion on their deck. Husband shoots over lion's head with a shotgun. Call Game & Fish, who tell him next time to shoot to kill.

What if the lion is still hoping for raw chicken.

Fact. June 18, an hour later. Man who was stalked meets lion on his morning walk. Shoots at lion with beanbag pellet, may have hit it in the flank.

What if the lion was still hoping for raw chicken.

Fact. June 18, neighborhood (all nine houses strung out on a couple of miles of rough dirt road) buzzing about lion sightings.

Fact. Several calls to Game & Fish, who say they need proof the animal is dangerous and, what's more, they're going on vacation.

Fact. June 18. Maybe a mile and a half across very rough terrain a man taking a shower on a rock outside his cabin is taken by lion.

What if lion was starving, had to eat and didn't know how to kill something that could run.

Fact. June 19. Man missing, brother calls Search and Rescue who see lion, call Game & Fish. Take shoot at lion, hit it but very brief blood trail.

Fact. June 20. Find body of missing man about 80 yards from house wedged between rock and tree. Partially eaten. Autopsy shows puncture marks on his neck and shoulders.

Fact. Hunters and dogs out every day but so far (June 22) no luck. Heavy rain, first rain in more than a month.

I am hurting for the man, but also, if my what ifs are right, for the lion.

Edited for typo

Probably the cougar lost it's mother while it had only learned to hunt small game, an adult needs 6-10 lbs of fresh, raw meat a day. They will only eat carrion as a last resort if starving. Cougars will abandon their own young to get away from humans, so you are likely right that it had grown dependent on being fed or it could be ill (rabies? *shudder*). At the very least the chicken-providing neighbor should be charged with interfering with a wild animal, manslaughter if possible.

I value my life above all else. I feel it is my responsibility to defend myself if threatened be it by a criminal thug or a wild animal. Nothing says "Bad kitty" more than;

Also loaded the rifle, then loaned it to the neighbor who shot a beanbag at the lion. (Husband sick and couldn't walk during the period the lion was showing itself.)

It needs to be killed. Think soft tip .308 & never have another threat from that cat. Why don't you carry a handgun Disorganized? What happens to you if the hubby isn't with you when the cat is?

That animal can kill you. Is it better you die so the cat can live? I didn't think so.......

He wears a semi-auto when he walks, I'm not sure what caliber but it's a big gun. He immediately told our neighbor to remove the beanbag shots. (The first two shots were beanbag shots, the next two lethal - at the time no one wanted to kill the animal, just tell it to move on.) Husband calls that shotgun a riot gun - I have no idea what he means by that or what kind of load is in there now, but I know it's lethal. When we moved out here he built a gun range on our property and a couple of women have asked him to give them shooting lessons. No one goes out alone now. The triathlon athlete on the road is even going into town to run. I'm pretty much restricting our dogs to the dogrun outside our bedroom door. I have spurs on my heel, eating into my Achilles tendon, so can't hike.

The game and fish people have stopped looking for the lion, the last we heard they had tracked him to the end of our road, which tells me he's coming back here. (We're about a mile and a half from where the killing happened, very rough country.) After all, this is where someone fed him raw chicken. Before the killing Game & Fish didn't seem too concerned with all the sightings on our road, said there was no proof the animal was dangerous and anyway, they were going on vacation. Safety first.

I do question the use of non lethal rounds in the shotgun though. When I pull the trigger on a gun I intend for the target to be killed. It is dangerous to aim a gun at someone & not put them down. If the individual you are aiming at is also armed they would have every right to defend themselves with real bullets. Of course I would never shoot anything or anyone unless my life was in immediate danger.

It sounds as if you need to get a professional hunter in there to resolve this problem. I hope the cat is put down soon & you can get back to normal living.

That's exactly what happened in my husband's novel about a man-eating tiger loose in the mountains of North Georgia. A hunter ended up coming from England to kill the animal. So strange that he wrote a novel (published by Tor/Forge 2003) about a maneating cat, and now we live next door to one.

I just got an e-mail from someone from the Wolf Preservation organization saying that the lion had been sighted last night and that their Wildlife Service people got out there with hounds at 4 a.m.

My husband, btw, talked the Atlanta papers into putting him through the police academy when he was 60 (so he could write a story about it). He's post-certified in Georgia, works court security part-time now that we've retired to NM.