ONE OF THE most popular questions that we in the trenches of the tourist industry routinely answer is, “Are cougars dangerous?”
This is a perfectly reasonable response after the recent attack on the 4-year-old boy this July up on Hurricane Ridge. The boy was hiking with his family when the cougar jumped him.
Luckily, his father tackled the cougar and the cat ran off. The boy was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center and the cougar was hunted down with dogs and killed the next morning. This is not an isolated incident.
In August 2023, an 8-year-old boy was attacked by a cougar at Lake Angeles, a popular camping destination in the mountains above Port Angeles.
The boy’s mother ran the cougar off by yelling and screaming at it as her child was being attacked.
The boy survived with minor injuries. Which is amazing, since cougars are capable of taking down a 200-pound deer or a 1,000-pound elk. Maybe humans don’t taste as good.
Or perhaps these large prey animals don’t have their fierce parents along to protect them.
Are cougars dangerous? Duh. They have been attacking people ever since we got here.
The Sequim Press, a pioneer newspaper, reported on an epic attack in the hills above Sequim in 1917, when a cougar jumped on a horse that was pulling a wagon. Maggie Schmith grabbed an ax, while her companion, Mr. Heath, hit the cat with a crosscut saw.
Hound hunters were called up to kill the cougar that was 8 feet, 6 inches from its nose to the tip of it tail.
Yes, cougars are dangerous, but compared to what?
Cougar attacks are rare, isolated incidents compared to the carnage caused by humans on a regular basis.
Lately, we have been suffering the effects of the Bear Gulch fire that raged to more than 7,000 acres before the rain came. Did a cougar start that fire? No, they did not. It was a human.
Lately, there has been a rash of vehicles driving off the road and into buildings in Port Angeles. Were those cougars driving those vehicles — no, they were humans.
Ask yourself these questions: Has a cougar ever chugged a case of beer and run you off the road? Has a cougar ever passed you on a blind corner? Has a cougar ever slammed on the brakes and stopped in the middle of the road to take a picture?
No.
So, what is the most dangerous animal on the Olympic Peninsula? The cougar or the road hog?
Seeing a cougar in the woods is a thrill most people never experience. There are many old timers who have lived on the Olympic Peninsula their entire lives and never seen one.
Most of the cougars I’ve seen were crossing the road like a bolt of brown lightning.
They jump out of the ditch, bound off the centerline and into the brush so quick that all you see is a long tail that lets you know you’ve seen a cougar.
The problem with cougars is that they invariably attack the wrong people.
Instead of attacking children out hiking with their families, the cougars should concentrate on attacking people who really and truly deserve it.
You know the ones.
They set off fireworks in the forest. They leave sacks of garbage and burning campfires in the tinder-dry woods.
They dump unwanted pets, abandon vehicles and leave household appliances and furniture for the rest of us to deal with.
In a perfect world, these people would get attacked by cougars, but the cougars seem to leave them alone.
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Pat Neal is a Hoh River fishing and rafting guide and “wilderness gossip columnist” whose column appears here every Wednesday.
He can be reached at 360-683-9867 or by email via patnealproductions@gmail.com.
