Cougar Attacks Kansas Athlete; Officials Say State Has None

[southwestwalkers]

Interesting stuff...

"Cougar Attacks Kansas Athlete; Officials Say State Has No Cougars"

Ed Park
10/2/2007

Officials with the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks say there is no proof that there are cougars in the state, despite numerous sightings by reliable residents. They say they need to see either clear photographs or the carcass of a dead cougar. Scientific minds will not accept circumstantial evidence, even evidence as convincing as that shown by Wayne Flerlage.



Flerlage is an athlete for Wabaunsee High School, and recently was on a training run for this fall’s cross-country season. As he commonly does, Flerlage went for his run just after midnight, along a favorite route on country roads east of town. He wore just running shorts and shoes. There was a nearly-full moon so it was bright out.



Flerlage had just reached his turn-around point and was headed home when “something” hit him in the back, knocking him to the ground and rolling him maybe ten feet. Momentarily stunned, Flerlage quickly raised to a crouching position to find he was face-to-face with a cougar. He reacted immediately by hitting the cat in the face, then jumping to his feet and kicking it in the head. The cat left.



How did Flerlage know the right thing to do? He had written a school paper on mountain lion attacks on people, so knew the right thing to do is act aggressive. He credits escape to his knowledge of the outdoors.



However, Kansas officials still will not accept circumstantial evidence – even Flerlage’s. Consider the following report and figures and see what you think.



The animal that attacked Flerlage was a uniform color; probably tan (The cougar’s scientific name, Puma concolor, means cat of one color). It was about seven feet long, including three feet of tail. The four scratch-wounds on Flerlage’s forearm were a uniform one-inch apart The four on his shoulder and the four on his back were about an inch and a half apart, spanning a total of five inches.

Officialdom aside, you’ll never convince Wayne Flerlage there are no cougars in Kansas.



Robb

[southwestwalkers]

Could have been some rogue male cat wondering in from another state....but even with a 300 mile home range that would be a long way.

[driftwood blue]

there have been numerous sightings of the mt.lion in Kansas. in the Flint Hills region and the south eastern timbered areas
our wonderful DFW just does not want to admit it... plus they made them a game animal so that they could fine you if you do kill one??? well I guess that is an underhanded way of admitting they are around
they also do not want to admit that turkeys catch and eat newly hatched Quail... they say" we have never found them in the crop of turkeys"... BUT then when did they inspect any of the big birds when the Quail were hatching? there was a Mt lion hit and killed near Lawrence KS a couple of years back and they tried to tell us that it was an escaped "pet"

[Emily]

Rpbb
just curious. do you know where that article originally appeared?

[southwestwalkers]

Take a look under "Latest Breaking News" http://www.predatorxtreme.com/

Let me know if you can't find.

talk soon, Robb