Cougar Attack Patterns

[frisky]

So a cougar attacked a horse at my barn a few nights ago. There are clear lacerations with claw marks. About 25 horses were outside in fields at night because the weather is cool, dry and beautiful now. Fencing was down in a variety of places because the horses were terrified, naturally. All the horses are basically fine, which means the cougar was not successful at finding food. Fish & Wildlife was contacted and they put cameras up. They say it’s a juvenile cougar. Most of the horses are now coming in for the night. There are concerns (which could be completely unfounded) that a dead cow and a hurt horse from a few weeks ago could also be cougar related.

For perspective, the barn is located at the end of a quiet lane (adjacent to the interstate) surrounded by woods. It’s far enough out from the city that there is farm land, but it’s being massively developed. It’s also quite close to wilderness. This is the first I’ve heard of a cougar attacking a horse, but through research I’ve learned that they have been spotted in the area.

My problem: My horses have a stall on the main barn that opens onto a pasture. It’s an ideal situation, really. However, I’m wondering if I should be concerned about this cougar. The cougar attacked a horse in a field close to the woods. Mine live next to the barn.

My horses are in the barn at night for 2 nights but the BO is annoyed with me and others. He is a country guy who has left his 20-something horse outside.There is also general barn hysteria. Please give me perspective! Do cougars wander to easier prey or will this sucker try again?

[PeteyPie]

Personally, I wouldn’t be concerned about a repeat attack, because the scenario I imagine is that the cougar attacked and the horses rebuffed him violently and aggressively enough that he had to give up. I assume the attack marks are on the horse’s back or hindquarters and it’s possible the cougar got a good kick as well.

I would really worry if I had a foal, pony, or smaller animal around. If this cougar continues to prey on local livestock or pets, he will get himself killed very quickly and that will take care of that.

I would also worry that the marks were incorrectly identified. Dog attacks can be deadly and domestic dogs don’t seem to get the message too easily and continue to harass animals, at least that is my experience with dogs and porcupines.

[Simkie]

I’d just have the horses in at night. Yeah, what PeteyPie says makes sense, but there’s a really easy solution here that will put owners at ease.

Similarly, when I caught a bear on my game cam, I no longer had horses on night turnout. No, it wasn’t terribly likely that they would be at risk (although a bear did kill a donkey only a few towns away last year) but I worried the horses may panic and run through the fence. It’s an easy thing to just bring them in at night.

All that said: cougars do not usually attack horses, especially full sized ones.

[frisky]

It’s only sort of easy to bring them in. My horses don’t technically have a stall and the BO is a bit annoyed at the barn hysteria. That’s why I’m asking.

[Bluey]

Our mountain lions generally are territorial and solitary.
They control an area of about 150 square miles each.
We have over the decades some that raise their young here and while they are around we lose mostly deer and a couple steers to that lion.

Lions do scare the horses badly and run them thru fences.
Lions will chase yearlings, but not generally grown horses.
Our neighbor lost some years ago a broodmare to a lion, rare as that is one is attacked.

If a lion is prowling where you have many horses and people, the smart thing to do is to hunt that lion before he does any more damage.
Until the lion is not a threat any more, horse owners will have to be proactive and put horses where the lion can’t get to them.

Injuries and kills by lions are standard, no question when it is a lion.
You know when you see those claw marks or find a carcass that has been dragged and loose stuff piled around and on it.
Lions take about three weeks to cruise thru their territory, so we expect to see them around every three weeks, unless they have a fresh kill they are going back to.

Most lions are shy and should not come around where other is going on, like where people live.
If one does, is best to try to run it off, bother it so it leaves.
Game wardens know best what to do there.

[Brown_Derby]

There was a similar incident where I board about 20 years ago. About 40 horses on the place, most in large pasture or paddocks. Only horse affected was a youngish WB. He had claw marks on him, the longest about a foot.

Fish & Game tracker surveyed the property for prints and inspected the fencing (almost all hot wire). He looked over the gelding’s clawmarks. He said it was most likely a young cat; they practice or experiment on prey. Keep an eye out for tracks and contact your warden if you see any.

The horse was most likely recumbent when he was scratched. The horse got a tetanus booster but otherwise no vet care was needed. The scratchmarks were not especially deep or bloody; more like the cat was playing. I have old photos somewhere; those clawmarks were pretty impressive. But even with chickens, foals, 2 goats, and two minis there’s never been another cat visit, which I hope is the same in your case. Of course Great Danes help. They are sissies but make a great racket.

[frisky]

Thank you. I talked to the wildlife guy who said that these situations are usually a one time event. Typically, it’s a young cat who tries unsuccessfully to take down a larger animal and decides to move on. A similar thing happened to a friend’s llama and there were no follow up attacks.

[stressgirl37]

Yikes, can I ask where this took place?

[frisky]

SW Washington, just north of Vancouver. I also heard today that the game guy might be putting up the camera again 2 weeks after the attack. I think they theorize that is the feeding window.

[TCA_Arabians]

Cougar country here too. I know of one mare that was killed protecting her foal. There have been other sightings nearby that were also related to foals. But, I know of an adult horse that was attacked as well. They prefer small game and pets. Fish and Wildlife know what they’re doing. It’s good that they’re putting up a camera again to track the cat’s pattern.

BO sounds like he’s used to cats roaming around once in awhile. He’s making light of something you find alarming. It is part of living next to nature and its critters. Great Pyrenees are wonderful dogs for guarding livestock.

I agree with PeteyPie. We also had roaming dogs here attacking livestock and chickens. One of them is buried under the goats it killed on my neighbor’s property. F&W can usually tell the difference. You can shoot a lion that is attacking your livestock. The rule was modified awhile back to require a permit. I think I would file the paperwork later if I was in the middle of an attack. Or, just dig a deep hole.

[clanter]

@frisky

SW Washington, just north of Vancouver. I also heard today that the game guy might be putting up the camera again 2 weeks after the attack. I think they theorize that is the feeding window.

just saw this where a cougar has apparently killed a woman in Oregon who has been missing for two weeks

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/09/11/cougar-apparently-killed-oregon-woman-missing-for-nearly-2-weeks-investigators-say.html

[NancyM]

If you are going to lock the horses in stalls, make sure that the barn is cougar-proof. Because they CAN and DO come into barns, where the horse is a “sitting duck” in a stall.

In my experience, (and yes, we live in cougar country too), horses in a large pasture, who have developed a good “herd mentality” tend to cougar-proof themselves. The herd stays in a group, and posts sentries. They look out for themselves. Young horses are kept in the center of the group, older horses stay on watch. Many sets of eyes keep the herd safe. Large, open fields without a lot of forest is the safest scenario to thwart cougar attack. The worst situation for a horse in cougar country is to be alone in a paddock, with access to trees from which a cougar can launch an attack.

[rockymouse]

Mountain lions, at least the ones we have here, will drop from rocks or trees to pick off foals and, rarely, adult horses. A rancher friend brought his broodmare to our place in town for several months each year specifically because of foal predation - she’d foal up here and he’d wait til the foal was pretty good sized before moving them back down to the ranch.

He also once brought up his ranch gelding, who’d been attacked. He figured that attack was by a desperate lion…the horse looked awful and it must’ve been a heck of a fight, but the horse lived and had scars to prove he was a badass.

[RMJacobs]

I had an occasional mountain lion at my Colorado horse property. We knew they would be around, and our horses were always out with access to a shed for weather protection, so we made sure to keep brush down around the horse areas. That guarded against the stealth hunter lying in wait in tall grass or brush, and launching a surprise attack. There were only a couple of trees in the horse areas, and those were far enough inside the fence that it would be tough for a mountain lion to climb one unnoticed by the horses. The horses could see a predator coming for a long way, and they always took turn on having one of the three of them keeping watch. I never had a problem.

Rebecca