>>2280283Further thoughts:
How often do we hear of some old guy going hiking or cross country skiing in the fall or winter alone, not coming home, and inspite of an earnest search; he never turns up until his scattered remains are uncovered in the spring?
It is often said that any gnaw marks and cracks are from scavengers who consumed him after he was already dead?
They usually claim that the man had a heart attack or a bad fall. But would anyone be able to tell that he wasn't ambushed killed by a mountain lion?
Would a wildlife biologist be willing to propose or entertain a theory on big cat predation? Many of those guys are very committed to bio diversity and should not be considered unbiased sources.
And I'd like to dispel a major misconception. Predators do not have a natural fear of man. They have a natural fear of the unknown.
In many of the lesser populated of the US a wolf, bear, or cougar that started getting too familiar with people would normally be shot by a rancher, sheep herder, or hunter. Before the beast might feel comfortable attacking one of us.
California is a hotspot for reported cougar attacks. And they have been sharply increasing in frequency in the last decade. Why?
I submit to you that the average Californian is meeker and more naive than the rest of the western United states. The Californian may stand and marvel at a lion, take pictures and even talk to it gently. He educates the cougar on humans. The cougar may start observing people's movements through his area. Determining where the best place to lay an ambush is.
In a straight on fight the average man could make more than enough trouble for a cat to bother with. But they don't attack straight on. If they do their job right, they already have ahold of your neck before you know you're being attacked.
The majority of the victims aren't average men. They consist of the very young, the very old, and the very female
