List of fatal cougar attacks in North America

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.
Cougar
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Synapsida
Class: Mammalia
Family: Felidae
Subfamily: Felinae
Genus: Puma
Species: P. concolor
Binomial name
Puma concolor

This is a list of known or suspected fatal cougar attacks that occurred in North America by decade in chronological order. The cougar is also commonly known as mountain lion, puma, mountain cat, catamount, or panther. The sub-population in Florida, which is a population east of the Mississippi River, is known as the Florida panther. There are also documented presence of cougars in Upper Peninsula of Michigan.[1]

At least 20 people in North America were killed by cougars between 1890 and 2011, including six in California. More than two-thirds of the Canadian fatalities occurred on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. Fatal cougar attacks are extremely rare and occur much less frequently than, fatal snake bites, fatal lightning strikes, or fatal bee stings. Children are particularly vulnerable. The majority of the child victims listed here were not accompanied by adults.

As with many predators, a cougar may attack if cornered, if a fleeing human stimulates their instinct to chase, or if a person "plays dead". Standing still however may cause the cougar to consider a person easy prey.[2] Exaggerating the threat to the animal through intense eye contact, loud shouting, and any other action to appear larger and more menacing, may make the animal retreat. Fighting back with sticks and rocks, or even bare hands, is often effective in persuading an attacking cougar to disengage.[3][4]

Before 1970

Name, age, genderDateLocation, comments
Arthur Dangle, 7, male June 19, 1890 Killed by two cougars while playing near his home in Quartz Valley, Siskiyou County, California
Frank Cook, age unknown, male November 11, 1901 Attacked by a cougar east of the Santa Caterina Landing in southern California. While singing the catch song.[5]
Child, 2, male January 31, 1909 Killed by a cougar near Balboa, California. The boy was attacked while in a tent.[6]
? Brown, 14, male February 2, 1909 Killed by a cougar near Balboa, California.[7]
Isola Kennedy, 38, female; Earl Wilson, 10, male July 5, 1909 Rabid cougar attacked a woman and child in Morgan Hill in Santa Clara County, California. Both victims died from rabies, not from the physical injuries. This is the only instance of a double fatality and the only instance where the victims succumbed to disease rather than the injuries sustained in the attack.
Child, 3, male August 21, 1911 Killed by a cougar inside family home near Beaumont, Texas.
Jimmie Fehlhaber, 13, male December 17, 1924 Attacked and killed in Olema, Washington as he tried to outrun a cougar for about 100 yards (91 m)
Dominic Taylor, 7, male June 1949 Attacked and killed while walking on a beach in Kyuquot, British Columbia[8]
Elena Salzar, 5, female June 1953 Attacked, dragged off, and eaten in Tampico, Mexico[9]
Woman, unknown age, female 1951 Killed in Tampico, Mexico.[9]

1970s

Name, age, genderDateLocation, comments
Lawrence Wells, 12, male January 1971 Attacked and killed in Lytton, British Columbia by male cougar while playing with his sisters
Kenneth Clark Nolan, 8, male January 20, 1974 Killed by a 3-year-old female cougar in Arroyo Seco, New Mexico
Matilda Mae Samuel, 7, female July 1976 Killed by cougar near Gold River, British Columbia Killed while walking on a road.[10]

1980s

Name, age, genderDateLocation, comments
Jesse Sky Bergman, 9, male May 16, 1988 Stalked and killed by a four-year-old male cougar at Catface Mountain in British Columbia near Tofino.
Jake Thomas Gardipee, 5, male September 9, 1989 Attacked and killed by at least two, possibly three, cougars while riding a tricycle behind his home in Missoula County, Montana near Evaro.

1990s

Name, age, genderDateLocation, comments
Scott Lancaster, 18, male January 14, 1991 Killed while jogging a familiar route on a hill above Clear Creek High School in Idaho Springs, Colorado.[11]
Jeremy Williams, 7, male May 5, 1992 Attacked and killed in Kyuquot, British Columbia by a young female cougar while playing in the school yard.[12]
Barbara Barsalou Schoener, 40, female April 23, 1994 Long distance runner and Placerville resident was attacked and killed while jogging on the American River Canyon Trail in California's Auburn State Recreation Area.[13][14]
Iris M. Kenna, 56, female December 10, 1994 Killed while hiking alone near Cuyamaca Peak in California's Cuyamaca Rancho State Park.[14][15]
Cindy Parolin, 36, female August 19, 1996 Mother killed while defending her 6-year-old son on a horse back riding trip in Tulameen, British Columbia.[16]
Mark Miedema, 10, male July 17, 1997 Killed by an adult female cougar in Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park while hiking when he got ahead of his family.[17]

2000s

Name, age, genderDateLocation, comments
Frances Frost, 30, female January 2, 2001 This Canmore, Alberta resident was killed by a cougar while skiing on Cascade Fire Road just north of Banff National Park in Alberta[18]
Mark Jeffrey Reynolds, 35, male January 8, 2004 Attacked and killed while mountain biking at Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park in southern Orange County, California. It is believed his chain fell off and the cougar attacked when he bent down to repair his bicycle.[14][19]
Robert Nawojski, 55, male June 24, 2008 Searchers found his body on this date near his mobile home in Pinos Altos, New Mexico. Investigators concluded that he had been attacked and killed by a cougar several days earlier.[20]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Roebuck, Sarah. "DNR confirms 31 sightings of cougars in Michigan, display in Upper Peninsula". Retrieved 2016-07-19.
  2. ↑ Subramanian, Sushma (April 14, 2009). "Should You Run or Freeze When You See a Mountain Lion?". Scientific American. Retrieved March 10, 2012.
  3. ↑ McKee, Denise (2003). "Cougar Attacks on Humans: A Case Report". Wilderness and Environmental Medicine. Wilderness Medical Society. 14 (3): 169–73. doi:10.1580/1080-6032(2003)14[169:CAOHAC]2.0.CO;2. PMID 14518628. Retrieved May 20, 2007.
  4. ↑ "Safety Guide to Cougars". Environmental Stewardship Division. Government of British Columbia, Ministry of Environment. 1991. Retrieved May 28, 2007.
  5. ↑ http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85058130/1901-11-12/ed-1/seq-1/#date1=1836&index=3&rows=20&words=KILLS+LION+MAN+MOUNTAIN&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=&date2=1922&proxtext=%22mountain+lion+kills+man%22&y=13&x=14&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1
  6. ↑ https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ykIwAAAAIBAJ&sjid=RUgDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4474,1187899&dq=killed+by+mountain+lion&hl=en
  7. ↑ https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=TAD19090202.2.18&srpos=13&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-killed+by+mountain+lion-------0-#
  8. ↑ "Cougar Trapped, Slain After Killing Boy, 7". The Reading Eagle. 21 June 1949. Retrieved 28 July 2011.
  9. 1 2 "Mountain Lion Kills Girl On Mexico Ranch .". The Deseret News. 20 June 1953. Retrieved 28 July 2011.
  10. ↑ https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ge4yAAAAIBAJ&sjid=vO0FAAAAIBAJ&pg=1141,6659971&dq=matilda+mae+samuel&hl=en
  11. ↑ "Jogger Apparently Killed By A Cougar .". St. Petersburg Times. 18 January 1991. Retrieved 15 August 2010.
  12. ↑ Deurbrouck, Jo (2007). Stalked by a Mountain Lion: Fear, Fact, and the Uncertain Future of Cougars in America. Globe Pequot. p. 171. ISBN 0-7627-4315-8.
  13. ↑ Raia, James (27 April 2004). "Athletics: Death by Cougar - Remembering Barbara Schoener". RunnersWeb.com. Retrieved 15 September 2007.
  14. 1 2 3 California Department of Fish and Wildlife Nongame Program (2013). "Verified Mountain Lion Attacks on Humans in California (1986 through 2013)". Mountain Lions in California. Sacramento, California: California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Retrieved 2013-05-28.
  15. ↑ Deegan, Joe (9 September 2004). "Mountain Lion Hype". San Diego Reader. Retrieved 15 August 2010.
  16. ↑ Zaidle, Don (18 September 2007). "Killer Cougars". Outdoor Life.
  17. ↑ "Mountain Lion Kills Boy Hiking in Colorado Park". New York Times. 19 July 1997. Retrieved 15 August 2010.
  18. ↑ "Woman killed by cougar identified". CBC.ca. 3 January 2001. Retrieved 15 August 2010.
  19. ↑ "Man killed by mountain lion; cyclists also attacked in California". Associated Press. January 11, 2004. Retrieved 2007-08-21.
  20. ↑ Search continues for mountain lion that killed Pinos Altos man, New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, press release June 23, 2008; Wounded mountain lion captured, killed near Pinos Altos, New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, press release June 25, 2008]; Second mountain lion captured near Pinos Altos, New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, press release July 1, 2008]

Notes

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/22/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.