Mountain lion expert Brian Kertson wants to make something abundantly clear: “You probably aren’t going to die from a cougar or a bear.”
Thousands of Americans die annually from unintentional injuries, falls and ingesting poisons, he told an audience at Backcountry Essentials.
It turns out furniture, televisions, refrigerators and stoves cause more fatalities than wildlife, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reports. Same with thermal hot springs in Yellowstone National Park, the U.S. Geological Survey noted.
The reassuring statistics are worth underscoring with so many people recreating in cougar country throughout the summer.
Through mid-August this year, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) listed 859 cougar incident reports, including 27 in Whatcom County. The state spreadsheet reported 23 attacks, all but one involving livestock or pets.
The data provides context when hearing about an attack like the non-fatal one on Feb. 17 involving a mountain biker in Fall City, east of Seattle. The episode generated the kinds of headlines that often fuel irrational fears.
Records document 22 cougar attacks on people in the past 125 years in Washington, said Kertson, a WDFW carnivore research scientist from Bellingham. Only two led to fatalities — a 13-year-old boy in 1920 in Okanogan County and a mountain biker outside of North Bend in 2018. On the latter, Kertson had to track down the cougar for the agency.
“It was so far outside the bounds of normal behavior,” he said. “That cat chased those mountain bikers 200 yards down the road and they deterred it the first time and it went into the brush.” The cat returned as they tried to get a cell signal and resumed the attack.
Kertson recently led a presentation on the fascinating lives of cougars, also known as mountain lions, pumas, panthers and catamounts.
As Euro-Americans eradicated bears and wolves in the 19th century, mountain lions became a threat in the West, according to “Cougar Conundrum,” by Sequim puma authority Mark Elbroch. By 1930, the former U.S. Biological Survey employed 200 cat hunters to aid ranchers, he wrote.
With wildlife biologists like Kertson, conservation is part of the conversation these days. Kertson, 45, is a powerful voice for the estimated 3,000 to 4,000 cougars in Washington.
“They are the evolutionary epitome of predation efficiency,” he said. “It has big eyes in front of its face, large teeth and sharp claws. It kind of freaks you out. We’ve been carrying that evolutionary baggage ever since we climbed out of trees onto the savannas in Africa.”
In 23 years of field research, Kertson has seen cougars in trees only three times. He likes to share such examples to counter the mythology and misinformation about the gymnastic creatures.
“The first thing to acknowledge is that our relationship with large carnivores is complicated because they are competitors,” Kertson said. “We’ve competed for space and food.”
Mountain lions have the most geographic distribution of any terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere. They exist from Patagonia to northern British Columbia and Yukon, from temperate rainforests to tropical jungles, and from high alpine environments to deserts.
Kertson said cougars are so adaptable they should be OK in the face of climate change. Cougars are the second-largest cat in the Americas, behind jaguars. Kertson recalled once capturing a 197-pound beast, the state’s largest-known mountain lion.
Part of their majesty is what Kertson describes as their athleticism. Their vertical leap is 25 feet while they can reach 35 to 40 feet in a standing broad jump.
WDFW officials try to maintain a stable cougar population — unlike other large carnivores that need help growing their numbers.
“We’re trying to preserve the evolutionary and behavioral trajectory of the species,” Kertson said.
Last December, he explained to the state Fish and Wildlife Commission the importance of such an approach. As apex predators, cougars exert considerable influence over the ecosystem composition and function. Predation — the act of an animal preying on other animals — “is a major driving force in shaping where animals are on the landscape and what they do,” Kertson said.
Mountain lions affect an ecosystem by altering the behavior and distribution of their main food source, deer and elk. It has a trickle-down effect that results in greater biodiversity and resilience within ecosystems.
In July, Fish and Wildlife commissioners approved rule changes for cougar hunting, which is legal in Washington. They established a cougar hunting season from Sept. 1 to March 31 and capped the legal take at 13% of each designated population management unit. The 13% now includes all known human-caused cougar mortalities. However, the cap would increase to 20% of the population if a unit reaches the 13% threshold before hunting season begins.
Many outdoor lovers are more interested in the human/cougar interface than hunting policies. WDFW offers a cougar section with practical guidelines at https://wdfw.wa.gov/species-habitats/species/puma-concolor#conflict.
Some basics are intuitive: Bicyclists and runners on trails early in the morning and evening should prepare for a potential encounter because the crepuscular cats are more active during those hours.
Bikers and runners are more vulnerable than hikers because “seeing something moving quickly through the forest can elicit a predation response,” Kertson said. “It’s like rolling a ball down the hall. The cat just can’t help himself.”
Cougars usually flee when spotting humans, but experts recommend people recreate in groups to make more noise. Barking dogs also often serve as a deterrent.
More tips if attacked
- Have bear spray available.
- Don’t run, because cats will likely pursue you. Never break eye contact. “A stalking predator makes its living not being seen,” Kertson said.
- Make yourself as big as possible. Wave your hands and stand on a stump or rock. Throw rocks, sticks or anything you can at the cougar. Fight back aggressively if attacked. Poke it in the eyes and ears.
- Kertson offered a parting thought now that he is studying a smaller cat species. “We are fortunate that cougars don’t have the same attitude as bobcats,” Kertson said. “Bobcats are 25 pounds of furry dynamite.”
Elliott Almond's outdoor column appears monthly. Email: elliottalmond4@gmail.com.
