Hunter incidents, attacks on animals, non-injury encounters, and accounts not confirmed to be cougar attacks have been moved to this separate Other Incidents Page.
Deaths are highlighted in red text.
2001 (7 Reports found including the death of a Canadian skier)
02 January. Husky sleeping in her doghouse attacked in Banff, Alberta. See this pet report HERE
02 January. Woman walking dog rescued by neighbor in Banff, Alberta.
See this non-injury report
HERE
31 January
02 January
08 February
Nostdal was hospitalized at Port Alice Hospital, where he was treated for bites
on his head and several lacerations to his face. RCMP Constable Randy Freeborn
said wildlife officials believe the cougar was one injured several days
previously by a car. It may have been the same one that had confronted a
local resident recently and killed several pets. On February 23, a Port Alice
resident shot a cougar suspected of being the cat, which attacked Nostdal.
Sources: (The Globe and Mail;
Canadian Press; 02/09/2001)
(Vancouver Sun; Doug Ward; 02/10/2001)
(Canada NewsWire;
Campbell River Couple Survives Cougar Attack)
21 February. Couple attacked in their makeshift cabin near Rupert Arm, British Columbia. See this non-injury report HERE
05 April. Man probably attacked in his own suburban Las Vegas, Nevada, backyard by an albino lion encountered previously by other residents. See this unconfirmed report HERE
04 August.
David Wood, 19, a resident near Cornwall, Ontario, went
outside around 1 a.m. in response to the barking of his brother's dog.
Noticing the top of a tail in the forest near the family's goat pen, he
approached it from the rear and came within one metre of it before it
suddenly spun and lunged at his head. He protected his face with his
right forearm, which was bitten, and he kicked the animal in the ribs.
The animal made another lunge before he scared it off. Though he didn't
get a good look at it that night, the next day around 7 p.m. he saw a
cougar crouching in roughly the same spot near the goat pen.
"Everybody's terrified," said Christine Wood, David's mother. "You used to see people going for walks in the evening. You don't see that anymore." She said her neighbors rarely see deer, the cougar's favorite food, anymore and she has heard "awful growling" in the forest behind her house.
Michael Sanders, a wildlife biologist in Montana, and Dr. E. Lee Fitzhugh, Wildlife Enhancement Specialist, Dept. of Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology at the University of CA at Davis, analyzed the position of the teeth from photos of the bite and determined that the bite matched that of a cougar. This is the first confirmed cougar attack in the East since 1751. Sources (Ontario bite; The Ottawa Citizen; August 15, 2001; by Matthew Sekeres); (Cougar warning issued in eastern Ontario: Teen attacked by wild cat in his backyard; The Toronto Star; 08/17/2001;)
2002 (5 Reports found)
23 June. 8-year-old Rita Hilsabeck of Reno, Nevada, was attacked Sunday by an adult, 88 pound, male lion on Compton Island, south of Alert Bay about 24 kilometres east of Port McNeill, on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. She was on a kayaking trip with her parents and seven other people including 2 guides. As adults set up camp for the night at about 4.45 p.m., Rita and 11-year-old Charles Eisner went to the beach to collect seashells. A cougar leapt from the bushes and began to drag Rita toward the woods, with its jaws locked on her head and neck. Hearing her cries for help, her father Chuck Hilsabeck charged the cat, yelling and shouting, and he was quickly followed by the rest of the party. The lion dropped Rita and ran to the woods and up a tree.
A doctor who was part of the group administered first aid until they could get her to the hospital at Port McNeill. Expected to make a full recovery, Rita's most serious wounds were deep gashes around her neck, where the cougar grabbed her. She also required some stitches on her arm and lower back.
Nearby fishing resort owner, Paul Evans, travelled to the campsite and shot
and killed the still treed cougar. Dan Dwyer, a senior conservation officer
with the ministry of water, land, and air protection, said the girl was lucky
to survive the textbook cougar attack. The cougar was being tested for rabies
in Nanaimo but appeared of normal weight and
health. The cougar's stomach was empty, indicating the lion was hungry.
Sources:
(CH Victoria;
06/24/2002; BCTV News on Global;
Girl survives cougar attack on island)
(The Vancouver Sun;
06/25/2002; Jeremy Sandler;
Girl, 8, saved from cougar attack)
(The Province;
06/26/2002; News; A10; Keith Fraser;
Cougar that bit girl was 'hungry')
01 August.
As the cat clawed and bit into his neck, face, and head, Parker managed
to open his knife's three-inch blade, stab the cougar a few times, and
eventually slit it's throat, leaving the cat to bleed in the middle of
the gravel road.
With darkness descending and no one nearby on the deserted gravel road, Parker, a retired millworker, managed to walk one kilometre to an industrial log sorting depot, where Jeff Reaume sped him to hospital in a company-owned logging ambulance. Reaume said whether by instinct, knowledge, or luck, Parker was able to slash the throat of the mauling cat -- the surest way to kill it. "He knew how to cut the cat. He knew what he was doing. If it was someone who didn't know how to cut it, we'd have found a body there -- or nothing at all, just blood." A friend of Parker's, Larry Pepper, mayor of the small forestry-dependent town near the north end of Vancouver Island, figures the cougar kept fighting for two or three minutes even after being slashed, but it finally died on the road. "Not that many people get attacked by a cougar and get away."
From the hospital in Port Alice, Parker was transferred to Port Hardy, then air-lifted to Victoria's Royal Jubilee Hospital, where he underwent reconstructive facial surgery the next day after which he was listed in stable but critical condition in the intensive-care unit.
The cougar in Parker's attack appeared healthy but was clearly hungry. An autopsy will be performed on the cougar to determine whether it was injured, diseased, or had anything in its stomach at the time of the attack. "He was skinny but he wasn't starving to death," said Conservation officer Ken Fujino. Port Alice residents have long been aware of the dangers of cougars and have been warned by officials to walk in groups or carry bats, knives, or pepper spray to protect themselves from aggressive cats. Thursday's attack was the fourth in about two years for the north Island and the second for Port Alice. Sources: (Vancouver Sun; Man kills cougar in fight to survive; Jim Beatty; August 03, 2002) (Vancouver Sun; From the jaws of death; Jim Beatty; August 08, 2002) (Vancouver Sun; Cougar attack a fight to the death; Jim Beatty; August 08, 2002) (Times Colonist (Victoria); Survival Instinct; Emily Bowers; August 08, 2002)
11 September. 31-year-old Gwyn Stacey, was attacked by a cougar as she jogged with her dog between 6 and 7 p.m. near Summit Lake, just west of Olympia, Washington. She ran into the cougar, which she estimated to weigh 80 or 90 pounds, at the top of the peak on her routine run. It was on top of a rock outcropping. It disappeared after a short time during which she yelled and waved her arms. After backing away for a short distance, she began running back out, and it stalked her along the way, eventually running ahead of her and waiting for her. She saw it in some bushes just before it attacked her, giving her a chance to dodge it, so that the lion only scratched her arm with a single claw and leaped over her and ran off. It made only one pass at her, and it showed no interest in her medium sized dog at any time during the stalking.
State Fish and Wildlife officials had been warning area residents to be careful regarding mountain lions in the area. A report was made only when the woman happened to mentioned the attack to a forest ranger the next day while picking up maps at a national forest headquarters. Wildlife officers used hounds to track the cougar. As of the following weekend, they had been unable to pick up a scent, but they planned to keep trying. Sources: (The Olympian; Olympia Washington; Cougar that hurt woman still on lam; Olympian staff; 09/15/2002) (E-mailed interview by author, Jerry Stoddard; 09/18/2002)
14 September. 4-Hers pet lamb killed in Healdsburg, California. See this pet attack HERE
18 September.
At dusk, Karina Jackson, 35, of Newkirk, Oklahoma was attacked by a
cougar at her home about seven miles east of Newkirk near the Arkansas
River. She had gone outside to check on a litter of American Staffordshire
Terriers in a pen located about 75 feet from her house. Noticing a puppy
was out of the pen, she went into a neighboring hay field to retrieve him.
She heard something rustling in the tall weeds at the edge of the field.
Not seeing anything she continued toward the puppy. Suddenly she felt
something hit her in the upper part of her left arm and she was knocked
down. "It felt like I got kicked by a horse or a cow." Picking herself up,
she saw a large cat running away from her. Frightened and stunned,
she only realized she had been injurred after she quickly returned the puppy
to it's pen, ran to the house, and then noticed her arm felt wet.
Click the above photo to enlarge.
Jackson was treated on the scene by EMT's, then she received 29 stitches to close the 4 gashes at Christi Oklahoma Regional Medical Center at Ponca City. Kay County Investigating Officer, Deputy Michael Kent, met with Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (ODWC) Game Warden Tracy Daniel at the hospital where they observed Jackson's wounds and agreed they were from a medium size cat scratch.
Two weeks previously Jackson saw the same animal running across the road in front of her as she was driving home. "I had to lock it up to keep from hitting him," she said. Earlier that same day, she had noticed the large cat in a nearby field. Those sightings had prompted her to contact Daniel, who in turn contacted some trappers to try to catch the animal. About September 11, 2002, Jackson saw the cougar again in her yard, drinking from a water bucket by an old windmill. During that sighting, the cat ran a short distance, jumped a fence, and then stood and looked at her. She picked up a bunch of apples and threw them at him. September 13, 2002, Kay County Undersheriff Buddy Thomas said that Carl Clapp, of Cedar Vale, Kansas, was called to the scene with his hunting dogs. "We're not going to take any chances if there's an animal out there. If we see any sign of the cat, maybe we can do something about it." Thomas also said that the sheriff's office has received reports of big cats in the same Arkansas River valley east of Newkirk, but the reports have never been substantiated. Despite many previous reports, Thomas said the cougar encounter was an "unusual happening, not common around these parts." Others further speculated that because the cat seemed accustomed to humans, this could be a feral cat--one released or escaped from captivity, now wild.
Despite game warden Daniel's claim that their department hasn't been able to substantiate cougar presence in Oklahoma from numerous sightings, the presence of cougars in Oklahoma has been verified, with two cougar kills in recent years in Cimarron County. One cougar was hit by a vehicle three years ago, and another was shot by a landowner in his yard last spring. Sources: (Rural Newkirk Woman Victim Of Cougar Attack; The Newkirk Herald Journal; Wayne White; 09/26/2002) (K-State Research and Extension News; K-State to Record Kansas Puma Sightings; Kathleen Ward, Communications Specialist; 10/15/2002)
26 September. Man shoots mountain lion about to pounce fleeing wife and border collie. See this pet attack, human non-injury report HERE
2003 (2 Reports found, including the death of an Arkansas woman)
03 May. Probably at about 5:00 p.m.
41-year-old Leigh Ann Cox was killed by a large cat near Leslie,
Arkansas, in the Chimes area of the Ozarks. Details of this incident
are still unfolding, as a willful coverup by officials
about the death being from a cougar appears to have occurred as
noted independently by neighbors, medical workers, other citizens in the area
and across the nation, biologists, lawyers, journalists, and wildlife
authors. Because of the evidence I have heard and seen, details of how
Leigh Ann Cox died will be written on this confirmed attacks page for
you to make your own conclusion.
Click on the photo to enlarge.
Between about 4:30 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. neighbor George Morton and his wife, less than 1,500 yards (as the crow flies) from the Davison's rural residence where Leigh Ann was living, heard an agitated voice seeming to retreat from their hearing. They did not recognize this as a distressed sound, thinking it more like the sound a youngster playing tag would make. Upon later reflection, they realized these were probably Leigh Ann's cries as she ran from the cougar.
At 9:57 p.m. Morton, an EMT, responded to the call reporting the discovery of Leigh Ann's body by her brother-in-law and sister, the Davisons, who had just returned after visiting neighbors. He arrived on the scene at about 10:10 p.m., and the ambulance and other rescue people arrived about 10:30 p.m. When Morton got to the remote Davison residence, Ken Davison, an ex-police officer, had shot two of his five dogs, believing they were the only possible explanation for her death, as wildlife officials had insisted over and over to many individuals in the Chimes area, that despite numerous reports of sightings, no cougars were in Arkansas.
Morton, intensively trained for 6 months in jungle warfare by the military, including graphic education regarding tiger, water buffalo, and snake attacks, recognized the signs of cat involvement within seconds of examining Leigh Ann's body. Leigh Ann's scalp had been ripped off, apparently from the front to the back almost in one piece from her forehead to the nape of her neck. She had slash marks that Morton and expert dog witness Darren Huff both identified as typical of a large cat but impossible for a dog or dogs to make. Her neck was broken and her trachea probably crushed, but her throat was not torn. Morton's training and my research has shown this to be a common cougar method, while attacking dogs tend to tear the throat. Both Morton's observations and later forensic photos revealed almost no blood loss by Leigh Ann, mercifully indicating that she had died almost instantly--again, typical of a cougar attack while dog victims usually bleed to death, according to Huff. Morton convinced Davison to cease shooting his dogs and to examine them for blood or injuries. Davison did this and found neither blood nor injuries on his dogs (including the two he shot) or in their mouths, and he left the remaining two old black labs and a younger mix alone.
Though Morton pointed out the evidence, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC) official, Jay Hagans, rationalized every point and continued to implicate the dogs. Later it was revealed that the majority of sheriff's deputies agreed with Morton. Still, the sheriff sided with Game and Fish to try to prove that the Davisons' dogs were responsible. Perhaps because of national attention that they were made aware of, the sheriff conducted enough investigation (teeth impressions from all five dogs) to clear the dogs. Their final medical examination of Leigh Ann concluded that she died from "blunt force trauma." Never-the-less, the local newspaper in Clinton (The The Van Buren County Democrat) continued to run negative articles about the bereaved Davisons.
From notes she has written throughout each day since the attack, apparently Game and Fish biologist Eddie Linebarger told Leigh Ann Cox's sister "Even if you prove that a big cat was present at the scene, at the time that your sister was killed, it is irrelevant. The report is going to say that it was a dog attack" Then he added, "Do you understand what I am saying?" When she persisted, he said, "It is much easier for us to deal with a domestic animal attack than a wild animal attack." And he again added, "Do you understand what I am saying?" Combined with earlier Game and Fish officials' denials such as "there are no cougars in Arkansas" and their failure to investigate the evidence, at this time, Linebarger's words left her with little to believe but that G&F was deliberately covering up the cat attack. She had first thought, as would any trusting citizen, that G&F was merely ignorant of lion signs and sightings in her area and of what the tracks around Leigh Ann's body were that she had photos of and that experts had assured her were cougar tracks. She was left to think that she had been naively trying to "educate" people who, instead, had an agenda.
Morton urged everyone to use care to preserve evidence at the scene, but most trampled heedlessly around as they gathered the body, scalp, etc. After the investigators and rescue people had left, another neighbor, Brent Muse (retired military intelligence and security officer) looked around the scene with a flashlight and found several very large cat tracks. These were found about eight feet from where the body had lain near the small brush pile Leigh Ann had made that day and where they had found her scalp with sticks and leaves raked over it. The body had been dragged about 30 feet. Both dragging the body and caching parts under such as sticks and leaves are typical of cougar behavior, not dog behavior.
Now about 3:00 a.m., again Morton was called over with his 35 mm camera. Using a spotlight and tape measure, they took photos of the tracks. Turned in to Sheriff Scott Bradley's office the next day, they mysteriously disappeared there. Either these prints or others found nearby and casted by the Davisons were identified by the assistant curator at the Memphis Zoo as a cougar's.
George Morton believed the sheriff would investigate the scene the next day in the daylight and examine the empirical evidence gathered, and that the medical examiner could be relied upon to examine the DNA as promised. None of this happened, so he now feels that the sheriff and Game and Fish have lost all credibility. In addition, after visiting the grieving Davisons two days after Leigh Ann's death (May 5), he personally saw a large cougar about 300 yards from where Leigh Ann was found. Locals report that lions often return about every other day to feed on a kill. He returned to the Davisons and they immediately reported this to officials. Nobody came out that day, and nobody returned their calls. When a resident about 4 miles away called to report sighting a lion the morning of July 10 outside her home, a Game and Fish official asked rhetorically, "What do you want me to do about it?" Within days, at midday, the mail lady saw a lion run across the highway. Again, no response from officials.
Sources: NOT COMPLETE YET (phone calls and/or e-mails from George Morton, Carl Felland, Jane Williams, Barbara & Ken Davison, and permission sought for publishing further names) (Renowned biologist E. Lee Fitzhugh, cougar expert) (The Online Arkansas Democrat Gazette; They say mountain lion to blame, want review of evidence; by Cathy Frye; 05/08/2003) (Samples of The Van Buren County Democrat's biased articles) (Memphis Zoo Assistant Curator, Houston Winbigler's statement regarding cougar tracks at the death scene ) (Expert dog attack witness Darren Huff's statement regarding forensic photos from the sheriff) (American Family Voice; NIGHTMARE IN THE OZARKS: WHAT KILLED LEIGH ANN?; July 2003; by Jane Williams) (American Family Voice; NIGHTMARE IN THE OZARKS: CANINES DID NOT KILL LEIGH ANN COX; August 2003; by Jane Williams)
13 May. 30-year-old Chris Kerzman, an information analyst for
the city of Fort Worth, Texas, was attacked by a mountain lion around
8:30 a.m. on the Chisos Basin Loop Trail
in Big Bend National Park
about 100 miles south of Alpine, Texas.
He saw the back end of a mountain lion go across the path and was "really excited because most people never see one." But he stopped and waited a few minutes to let it move on before he started walking cautiously, more slowly, and more attuned to sounds. After a short distance, he saw the lion again, crouched in some bushes, watching him. (Click on above image to see full photo including minor leg wounds.)
She didn't make any aggressive moves, so he hoped if he didn't move too fast, he'd be OK. He felt safer after getting out of her sight, but just as his comfort level rose, so did his pulse, as the mountain lion was charging at him. Kerzman yelled and raised his arms to make himself look bigger which stopped the lion about 25 feet from him. She looked at him "kind of curiously" then moved back up the hill. Kerzman picked up a rock, weighing 3 or 4 pounds, and a large stick and decided to back-track the mile long trail to the ranger station. He next saw the lion lying under a mesquite tree, but she didn't look interested anymore. She proved to be, however, as she charged again and again, coming closer to Kerzman each time. She got so close that he could see her drawing up her lips, and he could even smell her.
Kerzman maintained as much eye contact as possible with the lion during his 20 minute ordeal, as this slowed her approaches. The stalking lion kept trying to get above him, and she would move a lot farther each time he would go around a switchback and lose sight of her, trying to get position on him. Finally, the lion struck Kerzman's right calf and knocked him down. As she moved in, Kerzman hit her in the head several times with the rock. Again she retreated, stopping a short distance away, licking Kerzman's blood on her lips. She followed him 50 yards, and then she disappeared.
With blood pooling in his sneaker, Kerzman walked back to the lodge. He told the rangers and a park biologist what happened. He was treated by a Park medic for his leg and hand wounds, given a tetanus shot, and released.
The rangers closed the hiking trails and campsites and used dogs to find
the mountain lion. They came the same night and got him to identify the animal
that they tracked and shot. It was an old and emaciated female, missing
two canine teeth essential for successful hunting. When trails reopened
new restrictions were in effect: No hiking alone and no children under
12 allowed. Some remote campsites remained closed until further notice.
Sources: (The Fort Worth Texas Star-Telegram;
Hiker recalls mountain lion fray;
Chris Vaughn; 05/16/2003) (Houston Chronical;
Mountain lion at Big Bend Nation Park killed;
Associated Press; 05/15/2003)
(San Antonio Express-News; Park trails reopen after lion is killed;
From staff and wire reports; (830) 905-7387; 05/16/2003)
(National Park Service, U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Ranger Activities Division;
The Morning Report; Mark Spier, Chief Ranger; 05/15/2003)
This page contains expanded attack accounts of incidents involving injury that I have found in order for those who live with lions or recreate in their territory to get an idea how to respond to threatening cougars. Though I have made every effort to report all attacks resulting in injury, unlike Paul Beier's reports from 1890 to 1990, which he felt were very close to complete, I know from reading various states' and provinces' own accounting, that my list is incomplete. Because I do not have a biologists' credentials and resources, I must rely on news reports and reports from "scouts" I have in various locations. Feel free to be a scout for this research. Meanwhile be aware that the data here falls far short of the goal to reveal all injury attacks
If you know of an attack not listed here, please email me or Tom Chester.
Permission freely granted to reference or even reproduce this page
as long as links remains intact
which credit all sources and my co-author, Tom Chester, at http://tchester.org/sgm/lists/lion_attacks.html
As his was the rare and comprehensive research I found for multiple
lion attacks in North America
