Holy Crap! Cougar Stalks Man on Local Trail

Yeah this is all over my Instagram. Everyone sending it to me. So glad he is okay!

Haha @Wanderlust073 I thought the same thing!! There was some good sized ones too. Buuuuuuuut I feel like if I was in that situation, if I couldn't have gotten good enough distance from her, I would have been scared to bend down and pick the rocks up? Like maybe she thinks if I get low..I am about to attack? Haha idk, maybe he thought the same thing or was just too scared.
 
Miya said:
Yeah this is all over my Instagram. Everyone sending it to me. So glad he is okay!

Haha @Wanderlust073 I thought the same thing!! There was some good sized ones too. Buuuuuuuut I feel like if I was in that situation, if I couldn't have gotten good enough distance from her, I would have been scared to bend down and pick the rocks up? Like maybe she thinks if I get low..I am about to attack? Haha idk, maybe he thought the same thing or was just too scared.
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I was thinking the same thing. Yikes!
 
After reading several reports it seems in the end he was able to pick up and throw a rock at her. That's when she took off running.
 
Ugh, my biggest issue with all these news articles featuring this video are that they claim this cougar is stalking this man. If the cougar was truly stalking him, he wouldn't have known until it was too late. This cougar just seems to be 'escorting' him away from the kittens that he approached at the beginning of the video.
 
IntrepidXJ said:
Ugh, my biggest issue with all these news articles featuring this video are that they claim this cougar is stalking this man. If the cougar was truly stalking him, he wouldn't have known until it was too late. This cougar just seems to be 'escorting' him away from the kittens that he approached at the beginning of the video.
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longish twitter thread saying basically this
https://twitter.com/x/status/1315856091821948929
 
It's impressive he survived. Since yesterday I've watched the video about 5 times. I think it's an extremely educational one on how to deal with such a situation (that will never happen to 99.99% of people, but hey, being prepared for a potential similar situation is still a good thing). I've seen numerous cat tracks for many years around here in southern Utah as well as in the mountains in southern California, but have never seen a mountain lion in person. Though I imagine many have seen me and just very quietly watched me as I wandered nearby them! Don't blame the mama one bit for her aggressive following of the guy down the trail. She was protecting her cubs from what she thought was a dangerous predator who had decided to videotape them. The number of idiotic comments about that video, and about mountain lions in general, all over social media is just insane. I just hope she and her cubs are very far away from humans now and will stay safe.
 
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I like what wildlife artist Lyn St.Clair says on her FB page (she lives near Ystone):

This video has been labeled as a cougar "stalking" the jogger...that is absolutely false. The cougar's behavior is a clearly defensive, bluff, "go away" message. She was protecting her kittens after the man approached them. It is never a good idea to approach the young of a predator...after realizing his mistake, fortunately, the man did some things correctly and all parties survived the encounter.

What I am not seeing mentioned: this man didn't just accidentally run into kittens while jogging. Listen to his footsteps, he saw them and then tried to creep closer for cell phone video. The mama cat would see the man's own "stalking" behavior as a direct and immediate threat. Even a pet dog will react when you "creep" toward them, even when they know you.

Rather than hating either the cougar or the young man, people would do well to understand what is REALLY happening here. If you recreate in wild areas, you may encounter wildlife...knowing how to avoid or mitigate confrontation can save not only your own life, but that of a wild animal that may only be defending its home or young.
 
come down to Zion and vicinity, the kitties often wander around in the mornings in Springdale and Rockville. Also lots of activity here in the backcountry. I spooked one off last December on a night snowshoeing trip.

When I watched the video I couldn't find any stalking behavior. It was defensive behavior. The cougar had kittens, so every wild animal with a litter would behave that way this cougar did to protect their young.
 
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Yvonne said:
come down to Zion and vicinity, the kitties often wander around in the mornings in Springdale and Rockville. Also lots of activity here in the backcountry. I spooked one off last December on a night snowshoeing trip.

When I watched the video I couldn't find any stalking behavior. It was defensive behavior. The cougar had kittens, so every wild animal with a litter would behave that way this cougar did to protect their young.
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Yeah, nothing remotely resembling stalking there; pure sensationalism.
I was surprised to meet a couple of older guys, uh...somewhere between Wildcat Canyon and the West Rim(oh, my memory-maybe even around Telephone Canyon), years ago, who said they were specifically looking for cougars, or at tracks.
 
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