I would have swerved to avoid the cat. A motorcycle is something that can be
replaced, a life can't.

The reality today is if you don't want your dog/cat to become prey
to xxxxx wild animal in xxxxxx location then you'll have to move
to Arctic.  

In this day and age there are so many wild animals infiltrating so
many cities/suburbs/rural areas/housing developments/etc.
that there may be no place on earth where a pet  can't be
effected by xxxx wild animal.  

I live in a quiet suburban area and we've had more news items
about xxxxxxx wild animal attacking xxxxxxxxx pets.  

Before you say the solution is to keep your cats indoors I would
point out a few years ago my indoor only cats encountered a squirrel
that was probably rabid when the squirrel entered the house through
the wall.

    And young children like to eat nothing but ice cream --
sometimes you have to make another creature do something it doesn't
want to in order for that creature to be healthy.

    You mean other than bobcats, foxes, Great Horned Owls and
black bears?

Orchid
See Orchid's Kitties! -- http://nik.ascendancy.net/bengalpage
Want a Purebred Cat?  Read This! -- http://nik.ascendancy.net/orchid

inhabit, including inner suburbs of Washington DC for example.

I will be moving to the country in Western New York. I have no choice. I
fear that my Jaws will be taken by a coyote. I can try to keep him inside,
but he like to be out at night. Maybe the completely new environment will
make him prefer to stay indoors. And my mother's cat is living up there
outside full time right now. Since my mother died, no one has been able to
get close to him. I'll do what I can to protect the cats, but they will have
to be clever enough to avoid coyotes. There are a few there now, but they
have no natural predator that I know of in the east.

My sister lives in the Finger Lakes region, & they have coyotes - one can
sometimes hear them at night.  So my guess would be that they are out in
western NY, also.

If you want Jaws to be safe, you'll have to keep him in at night (when
coyotes are out), whether he wants to go out or not.  As for your mother's
cat, eventually you may a be able to lure him in.

Cathy

Excuse my interruption, but would you please set your Mozilla news
reader to make lines about 75 characters long so people can read what
you post without having to scroll across each line, which it appears
you have set to 500 characters or something like that.

The man was not being attacked, and his dog was still untouched by the
aggressive cougars at the time he aimed and fired.

depends, are you bigger than the animal?

Ever been attacked by a pittbul, be bigger than pitbull, forced pitbull to
understand canine throats dont like chokeholds?

As a two pound cat is obviously superior in strength to a dog many times
it's size so a Cougar will be to you puny human that they could kill in
seconds if you didn't have a weapon. The Native Americans may have lived
with these animals for fifteen thousand years... but as the iceman in
Austria showed... they didn't leave the house without a bow and arrows, a
large knife and a stone club - and a shorter life expectancy I suspect.

It's only because of guns and a pack of hunting dogs that cougars at one
time feared us. Without a gun and a pack of dogs at our command we are
nothing compared to them.

It is interesting the cougar had a dead housecat in it's mouth. Is that
considered cannablism? Is a Mountain Lion eating a house cat cannablism
since they are both feline animals? It sure is kinda creepy all the same. I
think seeing a large cat eat a smaller cat would turn my stomach. Yech!

I do think the guy could have fired a few shots in front of them to see if
the noise would do it first. I think if they were just passing though it was
sad their were killed. However, I think it wouldn't be safe for the man to
have two Cougars hunting as a team right outside his front door if they were
stalking his dog right into the front door of the cabin. There are limits.
What about the man's love for his dog and the dog itself? What about the
housecat? I feel sad for the house cat.

I agree it is sad about the Cougars.  But I agree it would be hard to drive
two cougars away with what? A stick? They might just go ahead and kill the
man for kicks.

Dude didn't have to.  He was able to get to his truck - all he had to
do is drive away.  Only a.sholes kill wild animals for being wild
animals.

Doesn't sound like that is what happened.  I'd like to read the whole
article, if it is even true, which I doubt.

-L.