This is another reminder
that by not actively hunting carnivores, they lose their fear of us in
general. This opens the door for
opportunistic predation and worse depredations.
These animals only became particularly scared of us during the era of
guns particularly. Up to that point,
bows could kill but it meant up close generally to get a kill.
Worse, carnivore populations
are increasing. This means we need to
develop technology to tag all carnivores generally that have the capacity to take
on humanity. This allows the certainty
of avoidance and also rapid response.
And yes folks, their populations must be controlled as tightly as
practical. Anyone who has seen a weasel
on a killing frenzy in a chicken coop knows of what I speak.
Now imagine a cougar in
a similar frenzy among a handful of unarmed citizens. Not likely but we can imagine it.
The point here is that a
cat came into this women’s private space and attacked with a killing bite to
the skull. Can you defend against
this? The complete surprise was that her
husband had the right weapon to hand at all.
That actually needs to become a standard even against marauding youth. It gets rid of the itchy trigger finger and
intimidates instantly. Guns suffer from
not been intimidating to animals and too quickly lethal.
Man
kills cougar with spear after it attacks wife in garden of their mountain cabin
on a remote Canadian island
Cougar mauled the woman on Sunday afternoon as
she was gardening
Husband, 60, leapt to her help, grabbing a
spear, after hearing her screams
Cougar ran off and was found dead nearby with
multiple stab wounds
Wife's head reportedly crushed, underwent
immediate surgery in Victoria
Locals praised man's bravery, claim same animal
has made several attacks
PUBLISHED: 13:32 GMT, 10
September 2013
A husband who saved his 60-year-old wife from
the jaws of a cougar by spearing it to death has been praised by others who
believe the same animal tried to attack them.
Reacting swiftly to his wife's screams, the
unidentified man grabbed a boar spear and stabbed the animal several times
until it fled. It was later found dead nearby.
The woman's skull was reportedly crushed by the
animal and part of her scalp was missing, according to one of the rescue team.
Now other residents in the western Canadian
island have come forward saying they believe the same aggressive animal tried
to attack them.
Troy Haddock, maritime coordinator with the
Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre, in Victoria, told the Vancouver
Sun the wife suffered several puncture wounds,
including on her head and scalp.
'It’s our understanding that she has undergone
surgery and is in post-operative care. [She] is in stable condition and is
expected to recover,' said conservation officer Sergeant Ben York in interview
with the Globe
and Mail.
The attack happened late Sunday afternoon when
the couple were in the back yard of their home on Flores Island in Clayoquot
Sound, on the west coast of Vancouver Island.
The 60-year-old was gardening when the big cat
launched at her, mauling her.
Her husband immediately grabbed the spear and
repeatedly hurled it into the animal until it ran away.
Conservation officers later found the cougar,
dead, about 20metres from the attack. It is thought it died from it's multiple
wounds, but a necropsy is also scheduled to be carried out.
Mr York, speaking the the Globe and Mail,
praised the man's bravery and said this was an unprecedented case of a cougar
having being killed.
'I’m pretty sure that this is the first time in
B.C., if not Canada and maybe even North America, where someone has stopped an
attack by a cougar with a spear and killed it with a spear,' he said.
'I understand why he did it, but it still takes
a lot of bravery to do what he did and I’m glad he was there to rescue her. You
know it could have turned out a lot differently if he hadn’t been around, he
added.
The woman was taken by a coast guard ship to
nearby Tofino before being airlifted to hospital in Victoria.
Other residents no Flores Island have also
praised the man's bravery and claim they believe the same aggressive animal has
made several opportunist attacks nearby.
Island resident Bill Dennis told the Vancouver
Sun a cougar leapt out of the channel and chased him and a friend in June.
He said it went for his friend but missed, then
it came for him up a ramp. After sprinting away, the big cat then went for his
friend again.
Mr Dennis told the newspaper a schoolteacher had
also been stalked by a cougar and so had a tourist on a Wildside Trail.
1 comment:
'I’m pretty sure that this is the first time in B.C., if not Canada and maybe even North America, where someone has stopped an attack by a cougar with a spear and killed it with a spear,' he said.
We can be pretty sure this was not the first time.
North America has been inhabited by human beings for several tens of thousands of years. Surely in all that time, someone else has killed a cougar with a spear.
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