"TCS" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 11 Jun 2004 19:56:02 GMT, gertrude wrote:
There's something worse for housecats than coyotes: immature cougars that
are too young to prey on deer. See
http://www.boston.com/news/daily/05/odds_cat.htm

And about 18 months ago there was a case in Washington state of a pair of
sub-adult cougars travelling together who were after a man's dog while
the
man and dog were at his lake property. One of those cougars had a dead
housecat in its mouth. The guy went back to his truck, pulled out a
pistol,
and shot both cougars dead. According to the interview of some law
enforcement official the guy was within his rights. Personally, I think
the
guy could've driven off the two cougars. Killing them shouldn't have been
necessary. What an AH :-(

Have you ever tried to drive off a pair of cougers?
Do you think you could aim a gun to disable at an animal lunging for your
throat at 50mph? Twice?
Easier said than done.






As a two pound cat is obviously superior in strength to a dog many times
it's size so a Cougar will be to you puny human that they could kill in
seconds if you didn't have a weapon. The Native Americans may have lived
with these animals for fifteen thousand years... but as the iceman in
Austria showed... they didn't leave the house without a bow and arrows, a
large knife and a stone club - and a shorter life expectancy I suspect.

It's only because of guns and a pack of hunting dogs that cougars at one
time feared us. Without a gun and a pack of dogs at our command we are
nothing compared to them.

It is interesting the cougar had a dead housecat in it's mouth. Is that
considered cannablism? Is a Mountain Lion eating a house cat cannablism
since they are both feline animals? It sure is kinda creepy all the same. I
think seeing a large cat eat a smaller cat would turn my stomach. Yech!

I do think the guy could have fired a few shots in front of them to see if
the noise would do it first. I think if they were just passing though it was
sad their were killed. However, I think it wouldn't be safe for the man to
have two Cougars hunting as a team right outside his front door if they were
stalking his dog right into the front door of the cabin. There are limits.
What about the man's love for his dog and the dog itself? What about the
housecat? I feel sad for the house cat.

I agree it is sad about the Cougars. But I agree it would be hard to drive
two cougars away with what? A stick? They might just go ahead and kill the
man for kicks.