Mountain Lions/Cougars Near Orillia, Ontario

[loveyagord]

I subscribe to the Eastern Cougar Yahoo group list and received a couple of emails that cougars may have been spotted near Gordon's hometown of Orillia. Photos inside.

http://www.thebarrieexaminer.com/web...0News&classif=

http://www.orilliapacket.com/webapp/...20News&classif

[charlene]

there used to be cougars in Northern Ontario near Timmins when I was a kid. The beagles and bassett hounds went wild at night..ohmigoodness what a noise around the lake when they were let loose..Come morning we never knew what wounds they'd come back with or if they'd all come back at all..I can still hear the wild geese, the loons and those damned hounds in my head after all these years...and the occasional gunshot..
lol
There was a cougar sighting about 12 years ago at the top of my street in the area backing onto a ravine. There is a path thru there and joggers/bikers/walkers use it..two joggers saw it and hi-tailed it back to the main road. There were other sightings in areas across the ravine for several miles that summer but nothing since.
Just another reason I don't jog..
lol

[Islandgirl]

I saw a documentary on DISCOVERY channel a few days ago about cougars that attack humans. It is a big problem on Vancouver Island, CA. They told about 4-5 incidents over the past year which took place on the same end of the island (I can't remember the direction,whether S,E,W or N.)no more than 15 miles of each other. The majority of victims are children, although there have been attacks on adults. The incidents that they told, most of the victims survived. One story was of a 4 year old girl who was attacked walking a path down to a swimming hole.
Her father had put a life vest on her and it saved her life as the cougar could not get at her neck. However, it bite her about the head causing serious injury. They said once a cougar decides to attack there is no stopping them. They can make impact at up to 400lbs of force and go for the throat which more than not causes instant death. The girl's mother heard her screams and ran down the path where, after a tough and courageous struggle, was able to make the cougar run off by hitting it continually with a small vinyl cooler packed with soda cans. Upon her approach the cougar was already dragging the child towards the woods. It's a wonder that little girl survived [or that it did not attack the mother]. In the end they concluded that it is the juvenile cougar that are making these attacks due to shortage of natural prey (human beings are not natural prey for wild cats). The juveniles can not discriminate natural prey from humans and attack children because they are small and more manageable. Cougars live their lifes alone and they are left on thier own at a very young age -they have a very short time with thier mothers.
Since the subject came up, just thought I'd tell ya about this documentary.

[catmanron]

I wonder what is the worse sound to remember, bassetts and beagles chasing cougars, or the "fog horn" on the old lighthouse, a sound you never forget. They certainly both beat " loud music at 2am from next door ",

keep smiling
Ron.

[timetraveler]

I suppose, in a way, man has only himself to blame when things like that happen. We're either encroching on their space, or else, when we develope land for either homes, business, or pleasure, we usually end up landscaping the developed land to look like a part of the wilderness. Then the poor creatures think that it's allright to come back & end up with a rather rude awakening when they do. Think about it.