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The big cat was suddenly in the headlights of the Toyota Sienna van. California? No. Colorado? No. Wyoming? No.
Bill Bradford: Have you seen a lion lately?
Published 11:31am Thursday, November 12, 2009Berrien County, Mich., near the intersection of Garr and Shawnee Roads, Saturday evening, Nov. 7, 2009.
That location is not far outside the town limits of Berrien Springs.
The driver of the Toyota van was Ms. Janelle Harris, an attorney with offices in St. Joseph, and who practices before judges in both Berrien and Cass counties.
Ms. Harris related that the animal was distinguished by its size; loping exit rather than bounding like a deer; face of a large cat and a long tail rather than the short flag of a deer.
This newspaper, The Daily News, reported on Dec. 2, 2005, that Berrien County became the first local government in Michigan to issue a public safety announcement asking residents to be on the alert for a cougar (mountain lion) and to take precautions.
On the night of Nov. 26, 2005, a cougar attacked a horse in Watervliet.
Investigation by the Michigan Wildlife Conservancy and local authorities found clear evidence that it was a cougar attack.
A biology faculty member at Andrews University confirms that there have been 125 cougar sightings during the last five years in southwestern Michigan.
Animal scat found in Bridgman contained cougar DNA and deer hair.
So . . . is it nice that we have these big cats here in our woods and fields ?
Scott Lancaster, 18, was killed while jogging just a few hundred yards from his high school in Idaho Springs, Colorado, January 1991. The cougar dragged the 130 pound boy 200 yards uphill before killing him. The lion was found feeding on his body three days later.
Mark David Miedema , 10, was killed by an 88 pound adult female cougar at 4:30 p.m. while returning from a hike to Cascade Falls on the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, July 17, 1997.
There are many instances when attacks of cougars have been successfully resisted and beaten off.
Photographer Moses Street was jogging on a trail in Rocky Mountain National Park near Estes Park, Colo., when he glanced over his shoulder and saw a cougar about to pounce on him.
The cougar backed off when Street yelled and waved his arms. He used a large tree branch to stop a second and a third attack. Street climbed a tree and had to keep using the branch to keep the lion from advancing up the tree. Park Rangers rescued him after Street’s girlfriend alerted them. (Washington Post 7/13/97, A01)
In southwestern Michigan we do not know of cougar attacks on humans. But what are the precautions which we might well take ? Go in groups when hiking. Make lots of noise as you go. Do not take with you food that has a great deal of smell. If attacked, try to remain upright; make a lot of noise and fight back with all the skill and effectiveness possible. If a companion is attacked, join the fray with all your might.
Bill Bradford retired to the rigors of a small farm in Pokagon Township.
He has served as director of clinical laboratories in physician group practices and hospitals. For a decade he was an educator in clinical laboratory sciences at Andrews University.
