Image created by Elke and AI without disturbing any wild animals
I loooove my mountain lion neighbor whose territory I share! We get along splendiferously with him mostly being out at night and me sleeping when he is most active. Sometimes we are intersecting a little but always respecting each other. I can smell him at night when he walks by my open bedroom window or my tent, depending on where I am at when I am sensing this magnificent creature. It always makes me extremely happy when I see his paw prints outlined in the soil in the morning. What a gift to be sharing a space with the guardian and protector of the mountains! I am extremely lucky! The lions are such benevolent beings indeed!Here are few facts about mountain lions and how I coexist with them personally.
I live as an interspecies communicator and before I enter a hiking trail I silently always ask for permission to enter and tell them what my intentions are, how long I will be staying and how much I love the WILD. It is rare that I get a NO but when I do I respect that and stay away because they might have a fresh kill in that area or might be teaching their cubs how to hunt. It is the same with the bears, the wolves and really with ALL Animal Nations that I come into contact with.
Mountain lions generally avoid humans, and most interactions are non-aggressive. Attacks on humans/I call them rather "defends" typically occur due to one or more of the following reasons:
We are using THEIR trails. Most of our hiking trails are former animal trails that we made wider and more accessible. These trails are easier on their paws just like they are easier on our feet and when using those trails we will encounter them more likely. When a wild creature follows us on a trail that is not automatically "stalking". Most likely it is walking on the same trail.😊 I step aside and let them pass. Sometimes they step aside and let me pass. Same with bears.
Human actions that mimic prey, such as running, jogging, or bicycling, can trigger a mountain lion's natural hunting instinct to chase. Keep that in mind while jogging in the wilderness with ear buds in, or riding a mountain bike down a hill.
A person appearing small or vulnerable (like a person screaming like a wounded prey animal, an extreme sports person with a bleeding injury completing their marathon at night in the wilderness, someone crouching down, or a person alone) may be triggering a hunting reflex.
Surprising a mountain lion eating their meal in peace, particularly one that is cornered or has no escape route, can cause them to attack defensively. Keep your senses honed and open and do not just step into any situation willy nilly. Or onto someone willy nilly. A hunter in MT stepped on a sleeping bear while only having open eyes for an elk in the distance. Look UP AND DOWN. Pumas are often resting on a branch in a tree during the day. For eons, before we trained dogs to tree them so we could shoot them down, this was their safe and relaxing space. You are in THEIR HOME as a guest and they are giving you plenty of signs like fresh scat, a kill site, etc. They also sing the most amazing song to communicate. I love their song. And they are extremely playful like kittens and housecats are. Or better, housecats and kittens are as playful as mountain lions. In fact, most animals play, just look around in the spring when you see foals, calves and many other baby animals frolic and in-joy their lives.
There is often talk about attacks, but most likely those are defends, like I call them. A mountain lion may attack to defend her cubs or a fresh kill if a human gets too close to their den or a carcass, especially if you have dogs with you who aggravate her. Many dogs have hunting breeds in them and do pursue the fresh scent of a wild animal. Keep that in mind when taking your dog for a walk in the wilderness.
Nobody has ever or extremely rarely killed a mountain lion without dogs that pursued and treed them first so they could shoot the terrified animal off the tree. A Fish and Wildlife official in MT told me that this has happened only once in the history of the state. That hunter came upon the lion against the wind while he was eating his meal and just shot him. Many unleashed pets have hunting breeds in them and flush out an otherwise calm and composed lion who is just waiting for the hiking party to pass. By using dogs for hunting lions we are pitting them against each other and creating an artificial enmity because they would not otherwise intersect with and harm each other. Sometimes they are sitting on a tree unbeknownst to the people and dogs passing underneath. I have witnessed that firsthand. In our case, the lion communicated with me from the top of the tree and hence I looked up and saw him. What a beautiful experience that was!
In rare cases, factors like limited natural prey, a lion being sick, old, or an inexperienced juvenile forced to hunt on their own, can push them into human areas. An experienced elk hunter once told me that an old mountain lion might have problems with their teeth and will go after easy prey like some livestock. A female in heat will wander until she has been bred. Beware of those females on a mission! They will wander until they have found a mate, sometimes for months and will eat unattended livestock because that is the easiest prey they can kill while out on such an important undertaking when they really do not have time for anything else.
I suspect that human fear of them thrown at them also causes a disturbance in their field of existence. I do not know for sure because I am not afraid of them. That fear thrown at them by humans when they encounter a wild puma might play a role also, especially when she has cubs with her. Fear is an entity that does not exist in nature. When pursued by a wolf, a deer will run away, not out of fear but because she needs to show the wolf by reflex if she is THE ONE to take out of the herd by limping or being slow. On the other hand, by outrunning them she shows her superior strength and will to live. She signals “Next time!” to the pursuing animals. A mother lion will have to protect her cubs from such an entity, the entity of fear as I call it.
Coexistence with wild animals in the last slivers of their former habitat is possible. When looking at statistics, the chance of being hurt be one when out in nature and fully present is very slim. It is much more dangerous for them to encounter one of us. Especially when we are afraid of them and taught that we need to take one of them out as a trophy or to protect our livestock from them by killing them preemptively. This is a topic that I will address in a different email another time.
I, personally, could not live without the wild nature inside and outside of myself. In fact, I would say that “I will go extinct when it all boils down to geraniums and puddles'“, namely domesticated nature only. As balanced humans we need both in my humble experience to live life in all of its expressions and fullness. Here is to my neighbor, the puma. May he live long and sire many offspring and tmayall the creatures in the forest be healthy and strong and thrive alongside an awakened humanity.
Image created by Elke and AI without disturbing any wild animals