Avoiding a cougar is simple. Don’t travel alone. Try to look older. Avoid martini bars.

Works on cougars, but mountain lions–that’s another case. Over the last 110 years, there have been 185 mountain lion/human interactions notable enough for study by a University of California Davis researcher. After looking at these encounters, Dr. Richard Coss discovered that conventional wisdom–make lots of noise, dance around, try to look bigger–resulted in avoiding injury just 26 percent of the time. Typical cloistered academic–if only he’d hit the bars he’d have learned those are the very behaviors that attract cougars. Running, on the other hand, which you’re always told not to do, gave you a 50-50 chance.

The media jumped all over this when the study hit the wires a couple months ago. “Run, Don’t Balk” was the message. But let’s take a closer look and see what the real takeaway is. The Stand Your Ground strategy results in mauling 74 percent of the time. Yikes. Back Away Slowly draws blood in 61 percent of the encounters. Ugh. And Run Like Hell promises torn flesh in HALF the interactions.

It’s pretty clear that your absolute BEST odds are 50-50. No matter what you do, you have a one in two chance of becoming puma chow.

So then. The real conclusion: You’re screwed. Which, of course, is exactly what the cougar wants.

---

Also, see the 10 mountain lion warning signs rejected by Yosemite National Park. Via theginblog.com and thanks to @austinlarue for the reminder.

---

Image used via Creative Commons.

---

Tagged as: wildlife