A Predator Comes Knocking

No matter where you live, or what you do, danger is ever-present.  If you live in the city, danger often takes the form of revenge, insanity, or desperation in our fellow man.

Out here in the country, danger has claws, sharp teeth, and enough strength and speed to take down even the strongest man with ease.  These killing machines have enough jaw strength to pierce a horse’s skull and crush one of ours.  I’m talking about the cougar.  And we were visited by one not once, but twice in the same week.

~This gives you an idea of just how large they are~

(Image courtesy of freerepublic.com)

When we first moved onto the property, our neighbor warned us that a mother cougar lives on a ridge about five miles out.  That’s unnervingly close.  My wife and I haven’t seen hide nor hair of this beast, but last night, and once before, it’s offspring came calling.

I sat upstairs, working in Photoshop with the lights low and the windows open when I heard dogs barking in the distance.  No big deal in the country…most of the time.  This time, however, the barking was getting closer as the predator passed by each house.  The smart dogs didn’t bark long before retreating inside.  Then our neighbor’s dog barked briefly and hid.  That’s when I heard it calling.  The young cougar was approaching our property.  When it reached the pasture it came very close to the horses and cried out.  They spooked violently and tore down the hill, breaking a water trough.  I can only describe it’s call as a cat’s yowl but deeper, more gruff, and almost like a bark.  It sounded scared.  We think that it was rejected by it’s mother, and didn’t know what to do with this new freedom.

When a cougar is kicked out, they are a few years old, so this one is most likely the size of a large Labrador.  I’ve also heard that, if you shoot one, aim well or keep shooting because you might only make it angry and the beast will try and kill you.

The second time it came back, he or she was just as close, but it was in the ravine below the horse pasture.  We fear that it may be setting up a den among the thick blackberry bushes.  If so, our goats are in real trouble.

Here’s hoping the young cougar has moved on and sets up camp elsewhere.