This is a list of known or suspected fatal
cougar
The cougar (''Puma concolor'') is a large Felidae, cat native to the Americas. Its Species distribution, range spans from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes in South America and is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mamm ...
attacks that occurred in
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
by decade in
chronological order
Chronology (from Latin ''chronologia'', from Ancient Greek , ''chrónos'', "time"; and , ''-logia'') is the science of arranging events in their order of occurrence in time. Consider, for example, the use of a timeline or sequence of events. It ...
. The cougar is also commonly known as mountain lion, puma, mountain cat, catamount, or panther. The sub-population in Florida is known as the Florida panther.
A total of 126 attacks, 27 of which were fatal, have been documented in
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
in the past 100 years. 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. 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.
Humans are capable of fending off cougars, as adult humans are generally larger. It is even possible for humans to win a fight against a cougar, such as the case of Travis Kauffman, who choked a juvenile cougar to death when attacked while jogging.
Fighting back with sticks and rocks, or even bare hands, is often effective in persuading an attacking cougar to disengage.
Before 1970
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
See also
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Animal attack
Animal attacks are violent attacks caused by non-human animals against humans, one of the most common being bites. These attacks are a cause of human injuries and fatalities worldwide. According to the ''2012 U.S. Pet Ownership & Demographics ...
s
*
List of fatal bear attacks in North America
Fatal bear attacks in North America have occurred in a variety of settings. There have been several in the bears' wilderness habitats involving hikers, hunters, and campers. Brown bear (Ursus arctos), (a subspecies of which are known as grizzl ...
*
List of wolf attacks in North America
There have been few documented and undocumented wolf attacks on humans in North America in comparison to wolf attacks in Eurasia, and few relative to attacks by other larger carnivores.
Fatal attacks
Below is an amalgamated list of verified, que ...
*
Man-eater
A man-eater is an animal that preys on humans as a pattern of hunting behavior. This does not include the scavenging of corpses, a single attack born of opportunity or desperate hunger, or the incidental eating of a human that the animal has kil ...
References
Notes
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*"Mountain Lion Killing Baby a Faked Story" Santa Ana Register, Santa Ana, California. February 1, 1909. Page 5. Retrieved January 30, 2019, via Newspapers.com.
{{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Fatal Cougar Attacks In North America
*Cougar
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cougar attacks in North America
Cougar
The cougar (''Puma concolor'') is a large Felidae, cat native to the Americas. Its Species distribution, range spans from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes in South America and is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mamm ...