We moved to a rural location last year, and I first spotted a large black cat in a tree in January 2010. It was only about 100 yards from my home (which is surrounded by woods), and we had eight inches of snow on the ground at the time. The cat leapt out of the tree and ran off. I then spotted it a month later running through a field into the woods as I rounded a bend on our 1/2 mile driveway. Finally, I saw it in March under the same tree, and I watched it walk along an open pasture area behind our house. This was in broad daylight, about noon. I watched it pounce on a rabbit and slink off over the hilltop with the rabbit in its mouth. I was actually able to snap about 10 photos, but because of the distance, they are grainy when you zoom in.

It seemed to leave the area when the weather turned warm in the spring, but just this past week, I discovered a large paw print in the mud in my front yard. I took photos and measured it - it's 5 inches from tip to tip. My 95-pound Rottweiler's print is only 3 inches.

My question: Is this possibly a mountain lion or a panther? The cat I saw is most definitely BLACK, has a long tail, and appeared to be the size of our dog. Like Ron's comments, it does not appear to be afraid of people and was not concerned to be in a field in the middle of the day just behind our house. Also like Ron, this print seems larger than a typical mountain lion print. What could this thing be, and should we be concerned? We have two young children who play outside in the woods frequently.

Sarah

Thanks, Ron, for visiting and asking. I can only quote the reliable sources that I use. Some people, I think, like to use the possibility of an attack to hunt and kill the cougar. Mountain lions attack livestock, another reason to kill the animal. Yet the overall percentage of losses of grazing livestock to total population is very small indeed. There are better ways to deal with this problem (our problem).

As to your question (I changed the title, I hope you are OK with that), it is said¹ that "Pumas rarely pose a direct threat to humans. Compared with the similarly sized leopard, this cat is a gentle retiring animal that almost never attacks people..."

The records of attacks bear this out - there have been very few indeed.

Records of mountain lion attacks in the USA and Canada between 1890 and 1989 show a total of 36 attacks, 11 of which resulted in the death of the person. However most of the victims were children (79%). Of the 15 cats that attacked mostly children, 12 of them were underweight or sick.

So we have sick cats attacking children but extremely rarely.

I agree that the "no fear of humans" mentality is concerning, however. This is brought about as more people settling in remote areas.

The advice as I have seen it states that using the correct techniques a mountain lion can be seen off without it being killed and without the person being hurt. That must be the best outcome.

If I was walking in the mountain lion habitat, I would take care, yes, but learn the techniques to protect myself (excluding shooting it) and if I had children to educate them accordingly and to keep them close by to supervise them.

See mountain lion attacks.

Reference:

1. Wild Cats Of The World by the Sunquists - the premier book on the wildcats.