This is a list of known or suspected fatal cougar attacks that occurred in North America by decade in chronological order. The cougar is also commonly known as mountain lion, puma, mountain cat, catamount, or panther. The sub-population in Florida is known as the Florida panther.
Over 130 attacks have been documented in [1] North America in the past 100 years, with 28 attacks resulting in fatalities. Fatal cougar attacks are extremely rare and occur much less frequently than fatal snake bites, fatal lightning strikes, or fatal bee stings.[2] [3] [4] Generally, humans are not considered as prey by carnivores, including cougars. Children, however, are particularly vulnerable. The majority of the child victims listed here were not accompanied by adults.
As with many predators, a cougar may attack if cornered, if a fleeing human stimulates their instinct to chase, or if a person "plays dead." Standing still however may cause the cougar to consider a person easy prey.[5] Exaggerating the threat to the animal through intense eye contact, loud shouting, and any other action to appear larger and more menacing may make the animal retreat.
Humans are capable of fending off cougars, as adult humans are generally larger. It is even possible for humans to win a fight against a cougar, such as the case of Travis Kauffman, who strangled a starving juvenile cougar to death when attacked while jogging.[6] Fighting back with sticks and rocks, or even bare hands is often effective in persuading an attacking cougar to disengage, though one should be careful when bending down as it make you look smaller which could encourage the cougar to attack.[7] [8] In 2024, four women engaged "hand-to-hand combat" for 45 minutes with a cougar that had attacked and bitten their friend through the face; during the engagement the women pinned the cougar down with one of their bikes, and "at one point the cougar even lifted the bike with the women standing on it." A wildlife officer who was summoned to the scene ultimately euthanised the cougar by gunshot.[9] A person should walk away backwards when confronted by a cougar rather than turning your back on it and a person should avoid getting near a mother cougar's kittens.
| Date | Victim | Location — Circumstances< | -- Location: Country, State, County, City --> | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| August 21, 1868 | Child, 3 | USA, Oregon, Lane County — "Killed by a Cougar" The Oregon Harold of August 24th contains the following: On the 21st instant, a little child three years old, of Mr. Patton, living on Rear Creek, three miles west of the Long Tom, in Lane county, was killed by a cougar. The child was playing in the yard and within, ten feet of the door of the dwelling, when the cougar sprang upon it from the bushes which grew near the house. The mother seeing the beast drag her child towards the timber, seized a stick and started in pursuit. She attacked the cougar with such resolution that it dropped its burden, and the heroic woman taking the lifeless body under one arm and her only remaining child under the other, made her way to a neighbor's house, a mile and a half distant. Mr. Patton was absent from home at the time."[10] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| June 19, 1890 | Arthur Dangle, 7, Male | USA, California, Siskiyou County — Killed and eaten by two cougars while playing near his home in Quartz Valley. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| November 11, 1901 | Frank Cook, age unknown, Male | Mexico, Baja California — The body of a Norwegian carpenter was found by hunters east of the Santa Caterina Landing. It was partially eaten. The hunters killed a nearby cougar.[11] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| March 1, 1904 | A. C. Marklein, age unknown, Male | USA, Kentucky, Magoffin County — Killed by a cougar in Bushy Cane Creek. The victim and a friend named McCarty both from New York state were attacked. Marklein received fatal injuries.[12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| January 31, 1909 | Child Brown, 2 or 14*NOTE: Probable false report| USA, California, Balboa — It was reported that a boy was attacked and killed while in a tent near Balboa. News stories variously reported his age as 2 and 14. A local paper reported the following day that the story was a hoax. The paper confirmed the local coroner never received a report of a child suffering a violent death in this manner.[18] [19] |-| July 5, 1909 |Isola Kennedy, 38, Female;Earl Wilson, 10, Male | USA, California, Santa Clara County, Morgan Hill — A rabid cougar attacked a woman and child. Both victims died from rabies, not from the physical injuries. This is the only instance of a double fatality and the only instance where the victims succumbed to disease rather than the injuries sustained in the attack.[20] |-| August 21, 1911 |Child, 3 || USA, Texas, Beaumont — Killed by a pet cougar inside his family home.[21] |-| December 17, 1924 |Jimmie Fehlhaber, 13, Male || USA, Washington, Olema — Attacked and killed as he tried to outrun a cougar for about .[22] |-| June 1949 |Dominic Taylor, 7, Male || Canada, British Columbia, Kyuguot — Killed and eaten while walking on a beach.[23] |-| 1951 |Unknown, Female || Mexico, Tamaulipas, Tampico — A woman was killed by a mountain lion. |-| June 1953 |Elena Salzar, 5, Female || Mexico, Tamaulipas, Tampico — The girl was attacked on a farm 20 miles from Tampico. She was dragged off by the mountain lion, only her clothes were discovered two days later.[24] |}1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
See also
Notes
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