I posted a few years ago about a retired city cop in our area who shot a cougar that crowded him and would not back off when he was riding his bike on a rural bike trail. He saw the cat cross the trail ahead of him and then it kept coming closer when he stopped with his bike between them and yelled at it. He pulled his snub nosed carry gun and shot it at 16 feet.
The rest of the story... A logger friend told me the rest of the story over a recent breakfast. An old man friend of his who lived near there had raised that cougar from a small kitten. Its mother was killed by a vehicle on the nearby highway and he took in the orphan kitten. It grew up and loved to snuggle and have its ears tickled. The old man was sure that the cougar the retired cop killed was not threatening but asking him to play and scratch its ears.
In defense of the shoot, there was no way for the bike man to know anything other than that a cougar in a wild forest area was getting dangerously close and would not back off. That would look like a threat to me, unless there was some other body language going on. I would shoot in the situation described.
Now that I've posted if feels like I told this before but didn't find it so will leave it.
The old fella that raised that cat should have put a collar or something on it to identify it is domestic.
Collar or not it should have been shot, it is not domestic and will in time become as wild and dangerous as other lions.
Quote from: JohnP on May 15, 2022, 12:09:08 PMwild and dangerous as other lions.
Or a human.
I know some humans that would benefit from a collar :biggrin:
I stand corrected. I guess I was thinking about a deer a few years ago in these parts that was tame and somebody shot it during bow season creating a big uproar amongst the urbanites. I forgot mountain lions are meat eaters.
Quote from: JohnP on May 15, 2022, 12:09:08 PM
Collar or not it should have been shot, it is not domestic and will in time become as wild and dangerous as other lions.