What an amazing story of odd fate...

sad day for felinity

you have been Boing Boinged

How can you live in Montana and not be aware of the fact that Mountain Lions are probably in your vicinity?

I have news for the Lady, there are Grizzlies as well, and more in likely closer than you think.

In reply to D. Dust, I've course I'm aware that Mountain Lions are in the vacinity, and with bear, elk, deer and coyotes continually migrating through our property on the edge of town, we are always on the look-out for scat, carcasses, evidence that wildlife are enjoying what's left of their habitat here too. But today, I've spoken with many long-time Montana natives about cat sitings. Even the FWP were a bit shocked (no pun intended) and none can imagine a nocturnal hunter preying on domestic pets at broad daylight along side a residential road next to the school bus stop.

If you have more helpful news for me, for example, what the heck it means to be Boing Boinged (see 55seddel comment), then I'm all ears.

boingboinged means you've been linked from boingboing.net. this can be a problem if your server isn't robust.
mrc.

Boing Boinged- Check out boingboing.net cause this has made it there. Congrats!

Well, Bridget, you will find that as humans continue to encroach on the habitats of predators, they will be forced to hunt for food in ways they nor us are accustomed. You say 'none can imagine' but there it is. It happened. I guess you don't know as much as you think you do.

you've also been farked now.
how big is that mountain lion? i can't tell if it's just the perspective or if he's really scrawny. i've heard some pretty scary stories about mountain lions preying on people in the past, so this might actually be the best possible outcome (kitty excluded) if this puma was really desperate and in the area

in case you're wondering "farked" means that http://www.fark.com has linked to you.

you've also been fazed.

that means you've been linked from Fazed.net which is much > than either of those other two sites.

Indeed, Fazed is to Boing Boing & Fark as Electricity is to Mountain Lion & Housecat.

[pwn3d]

So this is what happens when someone rubs one out using 2 hands...

Dan... you're an ass

Having grown up in Montana, I'll vouch for the surpise that occurs when run-in's w/ the wildlife you're looking out for actually does happen.
And being a city-dweller now, I can vouch for the frequency of smug, condescending remarks usually coming from small minds who are sadly mistaken in thinking that they're the only ones who know the obvious.
I'm with TDP...Dan, you came across there as a real ass.

Sorry, but Dan's right. He may have said it in nicer terms, but he's spot-on, nonetheless. It is always amazing to me, too, how the folks out in the sticks are surprised that, hey, there's animals out here! And when we colonize their territory, they act unpredictably & violently! The "small minds", Mary, are the ones that don't think their actions have reprecussions.

It *does* look like the cougar is somewhat scrawny. I'll bet it was a young animal, without a territory of its own, looking for some way to eke out a living without a human-free area to move into.

Thats why I choose to not live in the woods with hicks!

Hey Dan & D & Dust et. al. whomever you are, it's quite silly of you to be making sweeping moral judgements and criticisms about a person based on virtually no information whatsoever. I know Bridget pretty well and I'm confident she knows a hell of lot more than any of you about wildlife & living in a rural environment etc. Furthermore, she was sharing this interesting story with the community for your interest, not to invite gratuitious personal attacks. Jeez. On top of all that, not even a real name on these rude statements? C'mon. Give us all a break.

Fark > Fazed

After re-reading the story the morning after, I admit, my "oh-golly-gee" quotes did make me come across as a bit of a nave. As a Mom, my mind spent the afternoon pre-occupied about what could have happened, not how I came across in my disbelief and denial that we do live among predators of all kinds. Perhaps I earned some snarks. But I do know this, when I read about Cat 5 hurricanes destroying lives in urbanized flood plains, terrorist attacks in Paris or mudslides in California, I do not get out my late-night gavel and pass judgement about who they are, where they live, why thy live there and how they respond to potentially life-threatening events. Instead I read with interest and compassion, like most of you. Overall, I'm facinated by this dialouge and our chasms of misunderstanding for one another. Thanks New West for the forum that serves as mirror of our society in general.

I don't see where I made any "sweeping moral judgements", nor any "gratuitous personal attacks". As far as I can tell, there were no "criticisms" of the original writer, only a bit of incredulity that someone could be surprised by this.

Methinks Weber is a bit touchy about this subject. I don't think anyone here said people living outside of urban areas is a *bad* thing (I know *I* didn't), but I *did* say that I'm amused by people out in the 'burbs and boonies being surprised by these types of encounters. When you move into a new area, you shouldn't be surprised if the previous area residents don't suddenly disappear -- human and animal residents. Why "good" "bad" and "morality" have crept into this discussion, I don't know.

Fact is, this is happening all over the world as humans move into areas that up until recently were mostly uninhabited or "wild". This is also being caused by humans limiting the "virgin" areas available to wild animals -- if animals have nowhere to run, they can either die or share the turf with the new arrivals... Alaska, Brazil, California, western China...

The only "rude statement" *I* see is J. Weber assuming what I do and do not know... I think, Weber, you might want to ponder the old saw about what happens "when you assume"... As you pointed out, you don't know me, and you certainly don't know what kind of knowledge I possess.

Jerk.

Bridget, did you really just compare yourself to the victims of terrorist attacks and natural disasters? How pretentious.

I guess I'll take the middle ground... it is a scary thing to know that there are predators down the street, but not something one should be surprised at. There... now everyone has an argument that they can relate to! =) We have the scary predator argument and the not surprised argument all in one nice neat little package.

Hey, Jason, Montanans know about terrorism, they sent Dick Cheney to Congress. Note, I'm from Texas, so we gave the world George W, DeLay, etc. instead of driving a stake thru their hearts & burying them at a crossroads.
Montanans, if you're worried about grizzlies, cougars, etc., carry a blow torch & lighter with you at all times.
Oh, Jason, if you're trying to be the snark king just @#$% yourself up the @#$ and then suck out the @#$.

Dan is still an ass.

By his logic, city dwellers who are victims of violent crimes should never be surprised that criminals live in their midst. And yes, I live in a big city.

Reporter: We are on the scene of a horrible triple homicide. Um, nothing new here. Oh well. Now back to the studio.

d - i'm expressing my incredulity that you don't realize that Dan is an *ss, must be that small mind of yours you spoke about.

i didn't get the "big city edition" of the maps that lay out where humans are encroaching and the colonization zones. i kind of thought that humans were part of "nature" as well; aren't cities the real colonization zones reserved for those who have left their natural habitat and set up stumps to preach from?

i'm sure that bridget is aware there are predators living around her. i think her comment was similar to the standard "ignorant" city dweller who expresses surprise when it turns out that the person in the apartment nextdoor is a mass murdered, rapist, drug dealer...i.e. predator. i don't think many people sit around picking their nose wondering about the ignorance of the innocent next door neighbor.

it's a real jungle out there....

And i dont like gay people!

If you buy a ticket you have to take the ride. Wildlife country = suburban problems.

paulooin: As I said before, Dan could've probably been more kind in how he phrased his statements. He's still right. And, yeah, city folks who are surprised that there's violence and crime in their midst would have to be awfully stupid. Facts of life. Common knowledge. Reasonable & logical conclusions, and all that.

R, I'd have to say you're more of an ass than Dan, but *that* would be a judgement and a "personal attack". Anyone can look at a map and see population sizes ("see, the littler dots mean LESS people, while the BIGGER dots mean more people..."), and if you see a house surrounded by acres of woodland or scrub with nary a person around, it doesn't take much brain power (even you could probably manage) to figure that humans are new to the scene and/or probably not in the majority. Your strawman about the "'ignorant' city dweller" makes no sense to me, as that hypothetical individual would be equally deserving of incredulity. Where I'm from, you're expected to keep your head up and have some recognition of your surroundings, whether you're in Wyoming or Watts...

Cities/villages/towns have been around longer than subdivisions, longer than the US of A, longer than electrical wires, and longer than maps. Hopefully, they'll outlast the provincialism that we're witnessing here ("set up stumps to preach from" my ass). Well, when gas hits $6 a gallon, we'll see how many of these folks are still anxious to live the rural "good life". *yawn*

As we sit back and watch the effects of urban sprawl, wondering, "How the hell did this happen? All we did was tear down some habitat, shove out a few raccoons and bears, and now they're going through our garbage, mountain lions attacking dogs and cats, is there no sanity?!"

First point, mountain lions will eat young deer. It's a known fact.

Second, if the cat had been kept indoors like it should be rather then let it wander around outside to get hit by a car or violate someone elses lawn, this wouldn't have happened.

Frankly, with all the overbreeding of cats and dogs purely for humans entertainment, I feel more sorry for the mountain lion.

"But I do know this, when I read about Cat 5 hurricanes destroying lives in urbanized flood plains, terrorist attacks in Paris or mudslides in California, I do not get out my late-night gavel and pass judgement about who they are, where they live, why thy live there and how they respond to potentially life-threatening events. Instead I read with interest and compassion, like most of you. Overall, I'm facinated by this dialouge and our chasms of misunderstanding for one another."

Jackpot... I love this quote. Not only do you compare your situation (living in an area that has invaded a species habitat) to people struck by unforeseeable events like Katrina or earthquakes. The last sentence is smarmy. Fascinated by this "diolouge". "chasms of misunderstanding". In other words, you just said "i'm bemused by the fact of how wrong you all are", but in newspeak form.

wow! what a story!

I came here through fazed, and I have to agree, fark > fazed.

I like the big cats better than the little domesticated ones, too bad his lunch had to be so silly and go for the power lines.

Wow fun too see what happens when the internet "leet" barrage like gangbusters into the otherwise normally sedate " voice of the ROcky Mountains" via Fazed > Fark , and Boing Boing. Sadly we are rude and full of ourselves I see. Well this will teach them to have such a streamline easy comment posting protoc. Anywho

To the topic at hand: Neat story a big cat and a little cat died like squirrels.

Yes even here in an urban environment we have power failures every year due to squirrels caught in the power lines.

As to the whole debate over suprise over forseeable events. I would say that lots of people can/could forsee that there will/would be catastrophic hurricanes along the gulf coast. I think expressing surprise when things that are rather unlikely happen to YOU is a very normal pheonomenoa. Criticising people for this incredulity is ignorant and typifies people that haven't had a lot of diverse experiences in their personal lives.

It's odd to see the internet mob squad intrude on what is normally a very laid back and local website. Be more polite you asshats.

d - re: small dots and big dots...all true, but small dots don't translate into lesser intelligence--which your original (and follow on) statements implied: "I'm amused by people out in the 'burbs and boonies being surprised by these types of encounters".

i guess then i'm amused by people who choose to live in centers of mass humanity, and then are surprised by the predators they encounter...probably at a higher rate of encounter than the poor boonie-dweller. i don't think it takes much brainpower to realize that it is more dangerous to live in areas full of human predators than a rural area of natural predators.

the only useful thing you've said is that you should keep your head about you no matter where you live. the sad part is that natural predators are only reacting to environmental pressures, while the human variety have chosen to be predators.

i'd add that we shouldn't be so quick to criticize our respective neighbors when they simply admit to being surprised by the events around them. smugness doesn't look good on anyone.

i say 'shopped...

Cool story and awesome picture. I have cats as pets and have dealt with cougars in the wild before, generally in the Guadalupe Mountains (I'm from Texas).
It's too bad that most of the people who have visited this article already lack the capacity to appreciate what an amazing circumstance it is without making some kind of personal, critical comment of their own.
Bridget, some tips:
If you're ever outside with your kids and a cougar comes around, put a child up on your shoulders and look as large and 'scary' as possible. Shouting may help. Throwing things or otherwise provoking the cat is unadvisable; if you can intimidate it he will simply leave.

IN DEFENSE OF BRIDGET:
I've lived in central Washington State for over 8 years (and all over the west before that). We have recently been having more mountain lion sitings in our area, in locations that have been farmed for over 100 years (so this is not an instance of human encroachment). The big game (mostly elk) are also spending much more time now in local hayfields and pastures than anyone can remember. The current theory (held by knowledgeable wildlife experts) is that this change may have to do with logging, and with more hunting pressure in the mountains, with the result of elk/deer being forced out of usual habitats. Predators follow game.

I also have a young child, and the thought that a big predatory animal could be lurking nearby is very unsettling. My hunch is that several of you mean guys who are picking on Bridget don't understand what this feels like.

Fazed > Fark.

"I came here through fazed, and I have to agree, fark > fazed."

"Fark > Fazed"

"Indeed, Fazed is to Boing Boing & Fark as Electricity is to Mountain Lion & Housecat."

ding ding ding, we have a winnar!11!!11!!

paulooin, you can not draw a parallel between violent criminals and wildlife. Criminals are not minding their own business. Criminals are not acting outside their natural behaviour. CRIMINALS ARE NOT INNOCENT ANIMALS.

On the other hand, mountain lions are not malcontents filled with malice. They are creatures that are living their lives the way they have for hundreds of thousands of years. We are the ones that are encroaching on their homeland. We can't simply expect to displace them without any encounters.

Animals live in the wild. That's how nature designed them. When you find them in the wild, it's not shocking. However, if a mountain lion jumped through the window of a school bus and slaughtered all of the children, THEN you can be shocked. THAT is a better criminal to animal analogy.

Crap... "Criminals ARE acting outside their natural behaviour."

Does anyone else think that the cat and mountain lion should be repositioned, side by side, complete with post-coital cigarettes and empty bottles of vin rouge?

I have no beef with BoingBoing, but I do know Fark is for little kids. "OH FARK IS SO GREAT; TOO BAD I CAN'T SAY BAD WORDS OR I'LL GET IN TROUBLE!"

If you want to hear a bunch of pathetic butt pirates give their unsolicited, baseless opinions as if someone cares, go to Fark. If you want to be totally completely awesome, go to Fazed.

HAHAHA you are all retarded for debating such insignificant crap over this article....especially you Dan, you of all people should know better. Shame on you...shame on all of you hahahahahaha

I live in Bozeman, it is pretty shocking to find a cougar that close to the city. Doesn't happen often. Jason: 1 mile out of Bozeman City limits is not the wild. If a cougar showed up in Downtown L.A., you wouldn't say "What do you expect? You just put this city in their habitat, don't act so surprised." Granted a cougar in L.A. would be much more rare, but the fact is it just doesn't happen often here.

Bridget, kudos on your thoughtful, reflective responses to these cretins. Don't cast any more pearls before the swine. Anybody who lives in the country knows what you meant when you expressed surprise. Mountain lions and other wild cats are famously reclusive, so it IS STILL surprising to see one hunting in the daytime in close proximity to humans (that's why it is news, Dan), even in the very famous and vast sprawl of Bozeman!

For my part, I am endlessly entertained by city-folk who caution me about coyotes. I remind them that I am considerably larger than a rabbit or vole, and thus not terribly concerned. I'll risk my kids among the trees versus the traffic ANY DAY!

Got to love some of the people directed here from Fark, Faze (never heard of it), and Boing-Boing, rooting for mountain lions to kill people, presumably children waiting on the sidewalk for the school bus. Makes you wonder if they are as big as jerks in person as they are online.

Cool! This story rules! Wish it could have been George Bush and Robart Mugabe up that pole....yeah

Very intersting story. I'd kinda like to know what the measurements and weight of the big cat is the F.W.P. takes. A followup to this story would be good...

¡This is a preety small puma!.

I <3 you Megadoom.

Fazed>fark + boinboing x1000.

I love the mindless bickering between well-spoken pretentious assholes and overly defensive townspeople from this small web community that have never felt the flames of the hateful internet underground. Arguing on the internet is like running in the Special Olympics. Even if you win, you're still a fucking retard.

Best suggestion I've heard so far..

"Does anyone else think that the cat and mountain lion should be repositioned, side by side, complete with post-coital cigarettes and empty bottles of vin rouge?"

I recently carved out a nice spot near the top of a nice mountain here in NC. I had a problem at first with coyotes eating my cats, but after I learned of the open season on them my coyote problem has gotten better of late. It seems that when I was planting grass along my driveway and the 10 acre clear cut I had to have to complete my view, the abundance of grass seed caused a growth burst in mice. The mice in turn attracted owls. The owls now are eating my cats like crazy! It seems the more they breed, the more owls arrive to eat them! I have tried those "ultra sonic" sound devices to try and make them leave but that only increased the number of bats which crashed into the new cabin and fell to the ground. Actually on the up side, bats are a remarkably good bait for coyotes. I thought that some of you fine people may know of some trick to help with my owl problem or at least recommend a good bait. I hate to continue using the cats, as I am such a lover of animals and all. I actually hate to even do anything at all since I strive to keep the place nice and "woodsy", but do you have any idea how hard it is to sleep with all those owls hooting out there all night? (and the cats yell when the owls catch them) Any help at will be appreciated!

While I can appreciate the peculiarity of the situation; I find the headline to be flippant and inappropiate to the loss of life.

Bridget,

What a picture! As a nature fanatic I am always on the lookout for wildlife. Amazing-not only that it happened, but that you (or anyone else) got a picture.

Question: Did you take a close look at the Cougar? And my kids want to know if you knew the dead cat?

I saw it on WillsThrills.com

Pretty wild considering that your kids play right around there!

Why would a Mountain Lion bother with a little housecat? Especially if there's plenty 'o other wildlife around. I can imagine a medium-sized dog might be worth the lion's energy, but a cat couldn't be more than a thousand calores. Or do Mtn Lions chase kitties like kitties chase mice?

Karen,
We sure wish we knew who owned the kitty cat. We've canvased homes around here, but we've had no luck.

Someone else asked about how big the mountain lion was. FWP told us it was a young female weighing 60 lbs. She still had spots on her legs which indicated her age.

To Zeroth, there does seem to be ample food supply for these cats in the form of deer, but Mountain lions are also known for being encited by the chase, which I'm sure the little cat provided.

Thanks many of you for the nice comments and questions.

Wow, look folks- I'm about as anti-urban sprawl as you can get, but I think this is a simple case of someone who happens to live in proximity to wildlife finding this particular confluence of events *interesting*. And surprising, yes. Having more knowledge of the NORMAL behavior of these animals than we city dwellers do, she is noting how this behavior wanders from the norm. I'm sure she never expected the equivalent of "Wow, woudja look at that!" to land her in the hot seat. I wouldn't have either.

Well put Monk.

Zeroth,
Im not a wildlife biologist, but do know that young lions are still learning the ropes when it comes to hunting. The success ratio for chase vs. kill is very low (even for adults)and food is food. Im sure a good chase is fun too.

What is amazing to me is how rarely animal/human (or in this case cat vs cat)conflict there is. Contrary to what people like to think, wild animals try hard to avoid us.

battle of the dorkfest websites!

i guess u think this is funny... we were hungry... these people build a barn on my den and we had to dig over 35m though hard ground to escape. that's why jonny (my husband) was looking so skinny. tbh the kitty had it coming... he's been posting abusive or stupid comments on our homepage for weeks now, using special characters so we dont understand. Well i got news for you kitty. c47z |2 |)um|3z0r. fu to all the humans that thought the tragic demise of my life partener was funny. See how u fair with 100KW of DC running though ur furry asses.

Kira (the mountain lion)

See, this is why I never read blogs. So OK, you take a fascinating story, then a bunch of kids with nothing better to do, miss the point and pitifully try to prove their faint worth by writing pithy, bitter remarks at each other for no reason other to elevate their feeling of self-worth. Would you all talk this way if it were in person? And if you aren't kids, I wouldn't admit it if I were you.

yeah I am anonymous. I am not stupid.

Bridget, great photo. Courtney, great story. Everyone else? Unplug, bitches.

Thanks and goodnight.
Mr. Anonymous

"that's it.. end of fucking story" -Bill Hicks

WRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!1!!111!!!11!!!1!1

Great pic. Thanks for sharing. Too bad everyone has to get so dramatic, some of us can just objectively appreciate what is offered us and move along.
NEXT

Wow, I just beamed in from http://www.hamncheez.com . Great photos obviously create great bunfights. At this stage I have Dan leading on 10 points with the rest catching fast.

Just a quick question. Did the cats end up being well done or just medium rare. My guess - medium rare.

Dalt

HA HA HA HA HA HA! That is great!!!! Probably one of the funniest stories I've heard in a long time!!! And the picture!!! Made me wet my pants!! Oh man. That is fine quality strangeness right there. Bravo hamncheez, Bravo!

wow....you people need a life!

its an interesting story and that is all!
we dont have to start a fight over every ones morals etc!


=]

do we all have nothing better to do?!

uhh, whoever played the part of the mountain lion, u r a mf liar! I am actually the mountain lion, and what actually happened goes like this. Ok, that stupid cat comes along and attacks me, and doesn't even stay for round 2!! Well, of course this idiot who has a crush on me wanted to impress me, so he ran after the cat and tried to beat the crap out of him for me.. obviously it didn't work. so now jackson is dead, and the cat is too. and of course now i feel sorry for not even going out on a pity date with jackson. oh well. to hell with him! the electrocution part was pretty cool though, like a light show, only with a MUCH worse smell. signing off!!

Whoever took the part of the mountain lion BOTH times have no self worth. You do realize that this is an endangered species, and now it's one less animal. You disgust me. I am not taking sides on either side of this story, but whoever told the mountain lion stories needs to get a life and realise what the world would be like if there were no animals like cougars.
Jenn

What a scene/event to witness!

How many of the jerks that mocked your surprise have ever seen a big cat, I wonder? I stopped reading the "catty" comments after just a few...

I've lived in MT my whole life, I spend a GREAT DEAL of time searching for, observing & photographing wildlife and I consider myself privileged to have seen two in my whole life. I would certainly be surprised to see one in my urban fringe yard!

i agree Zeroth, although a house cat cannot be very filling it is not uncommon for a mountail lion to go after a cat. i lived in northern california and lost one of my cats to a lion. yes, i knew they were around and did not just ignore them. i even caught one looking at me while i was going to bed ( just the eyes). i even had a dog at the time but had no problems with the dog, only the cats.

For jenn: Just so you know, mountain lions are not an endangered species, and in fact are hunted in MT (just a fact FYI, no judgement pro or con). There is some debate as to whether their numbers are increasing or not, but they are not in danger of disappearing, and are thus not listed under the Endangered Species Act.

For Bridget: You sound like you have a pretty good take on this. I am in fact a wildlife biologist, live in rural MT, and despite all that I know and spend time teaching other people, would be a bit taken aback to realize there was a big predator poking around in the day right near my house. There's a difference between knowing in the back of your mind that it could happen, and actually seeing the evidence. This sort of thing is simply a good reminder that wild animals don't always follow the "rules" of behavior that we expect of them, and those of us who live in rural areas should remember to be careful, especially where our kids are concerned. This is not that different than when I lived in Minneapolis and it took news of a rape in a parking garage to remind me to carry my keys in my fingers and put mace in my purse whenever I went into the parking garage near my building - just an unpleasant jog to the brain that "oh yeah, I need to not be complacent here".

Wildlife biology and electrician are totally different way. There have been nothing to match these section.
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