Anyone being stalked by a cougar, yes the animal kind, should really be considering their last will and testament and if they’re wearing clean underwear when the medical examiner comes to ID the remains. Honestly “how cool is that” would not be on the lips of a lot of people staring down a cougar this big and obviously this intent on them at the moment. But really, what do you do? Running isn’t an option. Have you ever seen a mouse run from a cat? The reaction is almost instant most times, the cat will give chase because that’s their nature. Big cats like this will look at a fleeing creature, even a human, and perhaps think it’s a good idea to go bounding after them, and not even an Olympic sprinter is going to outrun a cat on the prowl.
Maintaining eye contact while not appearing threatening at all seems like it might be the only way to really face down a cat this size. Of course trying to get rid of the cat in the same manner you’d shoo a housecat though doesn’t seem ideal. There’s also the idea of making yourself appear bigger than you are and scaring them off that way, but that seems to come with a percentage chance that you’ll just tick them off and they’ll come running at you, perhaps thinking that you’re an aggressor that’s poaching on their hunting grounds. There are a few ways that experts would advise handling this, but in the moment there’s really no way for anyone to know just what’s going to work since every situation is bound to be different.
The cat didn’t look starved, which could be why she wasn’t moving in on the person with any true intent. This person should thank their lucky stars for that since a hungry animal isn’t going to worry too much about the dangers of trying to nab a meal. If you can see their sides billowing in and out from hunger you might as well make your peace with whatever deity you worship at that moment. Animals are usually most dangerous when they’re defending their young, extremely hungry, or backed into a corner. Thankfully it didn’t appear that this cougar was any of those so perhaps it was mere curiosity that kept the big cat moving closer, because otherwise this would have been the last known footage of this individual that was ever recovered, if it ever was. Cougars aren’t particularly nice when they go in for the kill, and they aren’t gentle at all.
A cougar is kind of like a jaguar in that they will typically attack from hiding as they can sustain a short burst of speed but aren’t built for long-distance running. When they attack they will wrap their jaws around the back of their prey’s neck and bite down until their teeth wedge between the vertebrae, separating them and thus breaking the animal’s neck. They’ll drag their kill off to a more secluded area afterwards and begin to eat.
So the cougar might have been stalking him, but had she been hunting the guy wouldn’t been likely to know the cat was even there before it was lights out.
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