 So I get some notifications from my friends who are tagging me on Facebook and on Instagram on the same post I go to check to see what's going on and it turned out It's a video of a guy who had a crazy animal encounter with a mountain lion. His name is Kyle He's 26 years old and he pretty much just went for a trail run in Slate Canyon in Provo, Utah Which by the way, it's an area that I'm very interested in hiking in my motivation Is that there are two flights from our regional airport to the regional airport? But anyway, he goes for a run and then he has this crazy encounter with the mountain lion Which probably at the time he did not realize it was a mountain lion But it just went so viral. He was able to film the whole thing on video and Obviously I'm glad that he's doing well, but I'm sure it was a very traumatizing experience. You are pretty much facing debts It's not it's not a joke. It's a big cat. It's dangerous But anyway kind of just motivated me to want to learn more about what to do in Cougar country mountain lion country per se I mean there are some rudimentary things that one should or shouldn't do and we will see that in the video that he caught But I kind of want us to do a little bit more reading and do a minute info type of thing Just to kind of learn a little bit more about what to do in a similar situation So so let's go ahead and watch the video even though every time I watch it I feel like my heart starts racing like crazy So we'll watch the video and then we'll do a little bit of reading about the area and what to do in a mountain lion country All right, let's watch this All right, I probably go to his Instagram. I Personally thought that what he did was really brave the way he handled the situation Fuck where's my gun? Okay, this is when I fucking die Obviously this video went viral and there are a lot of comments from people between those who are you know Encouraging the guy and telling him that he did the right thing and then people who think that he Offended the animal and then he deserved what he got blah blah blah And then people who think that he shouldn't have been running alone You should have carried bear spray and I feel like all of that blah blah blah blah blah is kind of useless But anyway, people like to talk and express their opinion and that's okay But where I want us to do it right now. There is a website called Wild Aware Utah and it has a whole page dedicated to Cougars and everything that one should know I want to do a little bit of reading here and I will share with you as we go All right to be aware Cougars welcome to Cougar country Some things you should know about Cougars Please take care to prevent Cougars from becoming Results animal by not feeding wild love on your property keeping your pets indoor the Cougar Puma Concolor is known as the mountain lion Puma Catamount Screamer or Panther So the kind of all fall under the same category. They live all across Utah from the high Utah's wilderness to the dry southern deserts in Utah Cougars prefer Pinyon juniper and pine oak brush areas within these habitat types they prefer areas where there are rocky cliffs ledges and Tall trees or brush that can be used for cover which kind of makes sense They are easily recognized by their Tony color white muzzle and long tail Those typically weigh 90 to 200 pounds male and females pair briefly for breathing But the female raises the kittens alone kids and stay with the female until they are about a year and a half old At which time they disperse to find their own territories Cougars are solitary animals They usually hunt alone at dawn and dusk and that's one of the things that I read in the article that was released about this topic Probably if you know that there are Cougars in the in the area you want to avoid hiking early in the morning or around sunset So the main prey of Cougars is deer so they will be found wherever deer are They will also eat elk antelope small mammals and birds the one interesting thing that I read earlier is that If you happen to see a dead or killed deer that is covered by some brushes That probably means that there is a cougar or mountain lion in the area So stay away from that because that's the way for them to kind of hide Their prey well not really hide but just make sure that they cover it leave it and then come back to Recover it later All right after making a kill a cougar will often take the carcass to the base of a tree and cover it with soil leaves Or snow saving it to feed on later this we were just saying cougars kitten cougar kittens or cubs Have blackish brown spots. So they're talking about their colors here and some pictures about their Print and their scat which is also important to know they have some Audio of the cougars vocalization Let's hear that Scary Okay, this is the the important part that I'm interested in is Preventing conflicts while recreating if you are on a hiking trail. How do you prevent a conflict with the with the cougar? do not hike or jog alone and That's kind of one of the reasons why the hiking backpacking community They were kind of a bit of a hard time because he was technically hiking alone Travel in groups and keep everyone together including children and dogs make noise while hiking to alert cougars of your presence It's much the same with with bears You want to make enough noise leave the area if you find a dead animal Especially deer or elk it could be a cougar kill the cougar might may return and defend its food. You see that go back Turn away keep a clean camp store food and garbage in an odor-free locked container Or hung between two trees where cougars and bears cannot get it So same rules as in bear country if you encounter a cougar All right, let's read this one carefully So if you encounter a cougar stop never run from a cougar do not approach the cougar So it's exactly seems like I think that's exactly what he did. He was not running. He was just backing away Maintain eye contact pick up children and pets or keep them very close Stand up tall do not crouch or squat. So if you crouch you squat Kind of showing the animal Inferior to them make yourself look bigger by raising and waving your arms or jackets above your head Talk firmly in the loud voice back away slowly and leave the area fight back If you are attacked protect your head and neck and I think that's one of the reasons why I mean having a bear spray Would be good, but also the one thing that I personally try to always have is a knife I mean if you are being attacked by I don't know an animal or something Like that you do have something that you can defend yourself with I mean You can't avoid the damage. It's just one way to to do something You know instead of not having any anything to help yourself with if you are aggressive enough the cougar will probably flee if You have an encounter with aggressive wildlife Please alert the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources office near you if the encounter or sighting occurs after hours or on the weekend Please call your local police department or country sheriff's office who can contact a conservation office to handle the situation And that's the information that they have in the website I think it's very useful and I kind of just wanted to share with you those of you who are not familiar with what to do if you encounter a cougar and Really, this is an important thing for new hikers whenever you are going to a new area that you are not familiar with Like for me, I wouldn't know that there were a lot of mountain lions in Provo Utah in this particular area. So every time you are going to a new area a new state a new national park Educate yourself know more about the wildlife in the area. Usually at the trailhead. There are signs or national parks You can talk to rangers. So just try to educate yourself as much as you can So really glad that the guy is doing well He is safe. I'm sure it was a traumatizing experience and a very difficult six minutes But glad he's doing well other than that you guys stay safe. Keep on exploring Educate yourself as much as you can and I will see you very soon. Take care