Proceedings of the Seventh Mountain Lion Workshop

98 REDUCING PUMA ATTACKS · Fitzhugh et al.
Figure 4. Puma responses to noise, including
lethal shots from firearms (n = 133).
to draw out the duration of the sound. For
example, a puma was recently stalking
chickens in the yard of a lighthouse
compound, with people around and active,
in broad daylight. One man banged doors,
without effect, then got a .22 rifle and fired a
shot into the ground without even causing
the puma to flinch or look up. It was fixated
on the chickens. The man then fired 7-8
shots rapidly into the ground, upon which
the puma looked up and walked into the
nearby brush, but did not leave the area. It
stayed on a nearby high area and watched
while people put the chickens into a pen
(Robert Hansen, Pacific Rim National Park,
Vancouver Island, B.C., personal
communication, 8 May, 2003). This
indicates that the puma did not react to a
single shot or to slamming a door, but did
react to a subsequent rapid series of shots.
We conclude that noise is effective, but
the kind of noise makes a difference. The
best deterrent in the event of a puma
encounter is to yell or scream as loudly as
possible. If you are going to shoot a gun,
you should fire in rapid succession to
frighten the animal away or shoot to kill the
puma.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE SEVENTH MOUNTAIN LION WORKSHOP
What if You Charge the Puma?
Our data include 6 accounts in which the
primary victim either charged the puma and
fought with it, or engaged in “mock lunges”
toward the puma. In 3 cases in which
people actually charged and made contact
with the puma, the puma left the area,
sometimes after a brief scuffle in which the
human suffered light degrees of injury. Two
examples follow: a man heard a commotion
in his back yard and went to investigate. He
thought his Scottie dog was being attacked
by a large German shepherd. It was really a
mountain lion, but he didn’t realize it until
he had jumped onto the attackers back.
When the man realized it was a puma, he let
go after a brief scuffle and the puma ran off.
The man received stitches for cuts behind
his ear (Colorado Division of Wildlife
2002). In the other case, a man noticed a
puma eating his daughter’s house cat, and
decided to save the cat by wrestling with the
puma. The puma swatted the man in the
face, and the man then decided to let go. The
puma left with the house cat in its mouth
(The New York Times 2002).
Two cases involved repeated “mock
lunges” by people causing the pumas to
leave the area without attacking. In the first
case, a woman came upon a puma crouched
about 1.8 m (6 feet) away. It began to move
toward her in a crouched position, growling.
She lunged forward, holding arms wide and
growled back at it. It retreated a bit, began
to approach again. She growled and lunged
again; the puma retreated again, not as
startled as it was the first time. Then the
puma took a last glance and turned into the
forest. The woman walked backwards
awhile, then turned around and ran (Personal
correspondence to K. Etling on 4 Dec, 2001,
from K. Hogland).
In the second example, a puma
confronted 2 biology students gathering data
in Alum Rock Park, San Jose, California.
The women yelled and made themselves