Some people who keep big cats have excellent facilities for them, understand their needs, and understand that there is always a wild animal moving within that cat skin. Others do not.

Although the people here seemed to sincerely believe that their lion was well-kept and happy, it was obvious that he was not. He was underweight and looked shabby and unkempt. He obviously loved the people, but a 4 year old male African lion is really just coming into full adulthood. Already the neighbors were complaining about the noisy roaring at night and the catbox-type odors that perfumed the whole neighborhood. And the cat was big – even underweight he weighed at least 300 pounds.

And his home was an enclosure that looked like about a 10′ X 10′ chain-link dog kennel. The county and the town did pass legislation banning dangerous animals such as lions, and the lion was turned over to a big-cat sanctuary.

He was one of the lucky ones. Hundreds of big cats are turned away from reputable sanctuaries every year in this country, because most of them are full. Many of these cats have been neglected and abused. Even those that are well cared for can never be safely released into the wild. But there are a lot of people who, either out of a misguided attempt to “release their pet back to nature”, or who just do not care what happens to the cat as long as it is not their problem anymore, who just pick a dark night and go out somewhere wher they won’t be observed, and dump the poor cat.

I am of two minds when it comes to the keeping of exotic cats, especially LARGE exotic cats, as pets. On the one hand I can understand the attraction. They are beautiful, intelligent animals. It’s so much fun to play with the babies, whether they be lion cubs or bobcat kittens. But pound for pound, cats are stronger and more agile than any other animal. Even a housecat can seriously hurt someone, and they have lived with people for thousands of years. An owner of a pet puma once told me, “If you’re walking this cat on a leash, and she wants to climb a tree, well, you’ll end up in a tree”. So many people do get big cats as pets when they are babies, and then dump them when they get big enough to be a liability.

I believe that if they think that they are released pets that doesn’t make them any less dangerous they should tell everyone so they can keep an eye on their kids and small pets.

I live in a small town but this area is rural, lots of farm land and big tracts of forests. There is a lot of unused land here.
Just because nobody has seen them for a long time don’t mean that they weren’t here all along. I live in East Tawas MI. Go on terraserver and check out the area.

Most of the few attacks that have occurred have been in areas where there is a fairly large puma population existing near a very large human population. In almost every recent instance of a puma attack on a human, the cat was a 2-yr-old (when the age age could be determined, that is), and almost all the attackers have been male. Most biologists think that attackers are young adults that have recently dispersed from the mother cat, and are still trying to find hunting territories of their own. They are still learning to hunt for themselves, and may try to take prey, such as humans, that is not within their normally preferred diet. But pumas are not known to become habitual “man-eaters” like some old-world big cats do.

Here in the East, pumas’ numbers are very low, and there is more than enough territory to go around. Pumas everywhere generally leave humans alone. There are thousands of pumas in the American West, but there have only been a handful of puma attacks. (I know that is scant comfort to the few people who have been attacked).

People who live in rural areas don’t really have a lot to fear from pumas. Pumas are timid by nature, and most of them will run from even a small dog, if it is barking. People who have livestock need to take reasonable precautions, such as bringing animals in at night, or having big flock guardian dogs to protect their livestock.

Of course it pays to take reasonable precautions such as not hiking alone in areas where pumas are known to exist, and not allowing children to wander off by themselves in the woods.

My 92 year old grandmother tells a story of her father chasing a puma (panther) away from her older sister with an ax, when she was a girl. Pumas were an accepted part of the local fauna but people did not live in fear of them. I think it’s a good idea to always carry something – a hatchet, a walking stick; not necessarily a gun – when you’re out in the woods, and to be aware of what is going on around you. Pumas aren’t the only potentially dangerous animals in the woods. In most predatory puma attacks (as opposed to cats attacking when cornered, or when they perceive their cubs are in danger), the person never sees the puma until it is upon him. For that reason it’s a good idea to take a dog with you when you hike in puma territory. Dogs’ senses are much more finely attuned to nature than ours. And pumas generally avoid people with dogs, because they don’t like to be noticed.

I personally am delighted that pumas are making a comeback in the East. It will give us Americans a chance to practice what we preach about living with wildlife.

Here is a link to an article that mentions many encounters, continent-wide.

Several recent So. Cal. attacks are listed towards the end of the article. Please refer to the details provided there, versus my own foggy recollections.

Puma attacks on humans are very rare–according to Wikipedia, there have only been about 100 in the past 116 years, sixteen of which were fatal.

So, in most circumstances, they’re more likely to run from you than try to eat you.