Universal Images Group via Getty Images
A video of a Utah resident Kyle Burgess being confronted by a mother cougar while hiking has been spreading around the internet. We spoke to scientists studying cougars to better understand the big cat’s behavior.
Was the cougar trying to attack or kill Burgess?
Scientists say no.
Mark Elbroch, Puma Program Director for wild cat conservation organization Panthera, said the cougar in the video was not hunting or stalking Burgess. The cat was stressed and was trying to escort Burgess away from her babies.
“This is defensive behavior,” said Elbroch.
The mother cougar can be seen lunging at Burgess with her claws out several times in the video. He responds by swearing and yelling at her to “go away.”
Although a lunging cougar would be enough to terrify almost anyone, experts said the cat was probably putting on an act.
Imogene Cancellare, a researcher at the Rare and Elusive Species Lab at the University of Delaware, said “bluff charges” are meant to eliminate a threat with aggression, not altercation. She said the cat was not trying to physically engage with Burgess.
“In mountain lions there is so much bluff and bluster,” Elbroch said. “Those charges are to make (Burgess) scared, that's the cat's game.”
John Laundre, an ecologist at Western Oregon University, said if the cougar wanted to attack Burgess, she would have. The cat stayed away because she was scared, too.
Do cougars attack humans often?
No.
Laundre said cougar attacks are near the bottom of the list of wildlife-related deaths. Domesticated dogs kill more people than cougars.
There have been four attacks on humans this year in the United States, but none of those incidents resulted in a fatality, he said. The last time a cougar killed a person in the United States was in 2018.
Did Burgess react badly?
The encounter began when Burgess stumbled across baby mountain lions on a trail and pulled out his phone to film them. He wrote on YouTube that he initially thought they were bobcats. When the mother mountain lion appeared, Burgess began to yell and back away.
Scientists said Burgess did the right thing for the most part by yelling at the cougar and keeping his eyes on her.
“(There are) so many crazy comments; some people saying he got what he deserved,” said Elbroch. “My goodness, he did everything right. He was on a trail recreating.”
Keeping up a dialogue is important to let the cougar know you are a human, said Elbroch. He said in most cases as soon as a cougar realizes it is dealing with a human, it runs away.
Cancellare said Burgess did a good job facing the cat during the encounter.
“Never turn your back on a large predator and run — you will trigger their prey drive and you will always be at a disadvantage,” she said.
The cougar followed Burgess for six minutes. It finally left when he tossed a rock at it. Elbroch said the cat might have left faster if Burgess yelled louder and threw something right away.
What else should you do if you encounter a cougar?
Cougars are scaredy cats, so the best thing to do is try and intimidate them, according to scientists.
Elbroch said the first thing to do if a cougar approaches you is make a lot of noise. He said you want to make the cat pause and reassess the situation.
“When it reassesses it will look for an escape,” he said. “Mountain lions by nature are timid and cautious, more so than a bobcat.”
If you are too scared to form words, you can scream and clap your hands.
David Stoner, a cougar researcher at Utah State University, said cougars are easily intimidated because they try to avoid physical fights. If they get injured in a fight, they won’t be able to hunt and will starve.
“They are solo hunters, they don't work in groups,” he said. “If they are injured that's it, they have no way of feeding themselves."
Cancellare suggested throwing something at the cat right away. She said hikers should carry bear spray for situations like the one in the video.
She advised people to avoid getting close to wild animals.
“Never approach an animal for the sake of a photo or video footage,” she said. “You could get hurt, but viral misinformation could result in the undeserved persecution of the animal involved.”
Why did the cat follow Burgess for so long? Is that normal?
Scientists aren’t sure.
Cancellare said the video shows unusually intense aggression.
Elbroch said the cat followed Burgess for longer than normal. He speculated that the cat might have left faster if Burgess had taken a more aggressive stand by yelling and clapping more. The cougar may have felt that it had the upper hand and acted bolder because Burgess was backing away and acting defensive, he said.
The video itself might have something to do with the prolonged aggression, said Elbroch. He pointed out that the cougar is in the center of the video for much of the attack. If Burgess was glancing between the cougar and his phone screen while taping the encounter, it might have made the cat think she didn’t have his full attention, said Elbroch.
Linda Sweanor, co-founder of the Wild Felid Research and Management Association, said the cougar’s behavior was normal, but rare.
Sweanor published a paper in 2005 about how cougars react when approached by human researchers. Her team approached mothers with cubs 79 times in their fieldwork. Most of the cougars ran away, but on 14 occasions the mothers exhibited threatening behaviors like charging or growling. Those mothers came within five meters of the researchers before being driven away by the researchers yelling and beating sticks against rocks.
She said one researcher on her team had a similar encounter to Burgess’ after getting close to a mother with babies by a deer carcass. The mother cougar growled and hissed at the researcher and continued to advance even as he yelled and waived. The cougar finally returned to her kittens when the researcher began to back up a slope.
Stoner agreed the cat’s behavior wasn’t out of the ordinary. He said the mother cat looks skinny, which makes him think she was still nursing. That would mean her kittens are very young and vulnerable, which might have made her more aggressive.
“The reaction of the cougar was normal,” he said. “The reaction of the hiker was fine, although if he had been aggressive sooner it probably would have diffused the situation faster.”
