An Oregon charwoman who disappeared after setting out on a hike in Mount Hood National Forest late last month is believe to have died from a tidy sum lion blast , according toan announcementmade yesterday by the local sheriff ’s section . A medical examiner has determined that the body of Diana Bober , 55 , shows signs of injuries coherent with a mountain social lion maul .
Samples of DNA grounds have been sent to a US Pisces and Wildlife Service laboratory in monastic order to confirm the mintage responsible for for her dying .
" Oregon has never had – until this incident – a confirmed onrush of a person by a catamount either fatal or nonfatal and so this is very rare , ” Oregon Fish and Wildlife manager Brain Wolfer express .
The event , though undeniably tragic , is bound to prompt undue reverence and perhaps out of proportion persecution of these large bozo .
Since 1890 , only 25 fatal and 95 non - fatal mountain Leo attack have been documented in the entirety of North America . In equivalence , the CDC approximate that 800,000 masses command medical attention for dog attacks every year .
US universe of mount lions ( Puma concolor ) – also known as panther and Felis concolor – dropped importantly in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries due to unregulated hunt . In many states , the big cats were wiped out alone , and it was n’t until the seventies that protections and hunting limits finally began to be enacted .
In last few decades , several regional populations have been reestablish and those that survived are lento rebounding . Yet , as catamount researcher and University of Colorado PhD scholar Joe Acampora explains , the species is still far from its old numbers .
" [ M]ost populations are now finger the insistence of human development in the form of habitat atomization , which makes it more difficult for cats to observe adequate territories in which they can well move between to locate mates and prey , ” Acampora told IFLScience . “ While they are globally listed as ‘ Least Concern ’ by the IUCN , many regional universe are at risk for these reasons . ”
Currently , landowners and law enforcement officials can defeat puma that are deemed to bewilder a threat to the safety of multitude or farm animal . Because humans extend to urbanize the wild areas cougars inhabit – driving out natural prey animals while introducing very eatable pets and farm animals – tight encounter that guarantee such activeness are becoming more frequent .
“ What I like to get across to people is to strain and balance the statistical realities ( that this is very rarefied ) with the fact that there is a material peril and that these things do happen , ” Acampora continue .
“ You ’ll often see [ conservation ] groups jump on ideas that this may have been a sick , juvenile , or old / injured individual . This is often the event , but it ’s also of import to remember that mountain king of beasts are generalists and opportunists , and as such may take strange prey such as humans . ”
But despite the increase overlap between people and cougars , Acampora emphasizes that , on the whole , cougars are super conservative of come near us .
“ We like to severalize masses that if you ’ve been hiking in the western US , a mountain king of beasts has probably seen you and pass up the probability , or choose to invalidate you altogether . In most sightings – which themselves are extremely rare – lions are seen running away from humans . ”
To downplay your risk of an attack , he urge always boost in groups and avoiding jaunts in known cougar territory during dawning and dusk .
According to CNN , US Fish and Wildlife officials are presently look for the catamount responsible for the mauling . As is communications protocol , it will be bolt down when feel .
