The Mountain Lion In Where The Red Fern Grows

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In the novel Where the Red Fern Grows the protagonist Billy encounters a mountain lion when he is traveling alone with his pups. (Pg. 111). According to Wikipedia, the mountain lion is “properly considered both nocturnal and crepuscular.” which means that they are primarily nocturnal but are most active at dusk or dawn. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cougar ). The mountain lion primarily eats deer, coyotes, raccoons, rodents, elk, feral hogs, and porcupines. Mountain lions live in the western hemisphere from Canada to Argentina. Besides living in the Ozarks where the story takes place they also live in the area around my house in Orange. Human encounters with mountain lions are rare and the risk of an attack is small. These animals are not classified as endangered, however, “wildlife experts acknowledged they are increasingly concerned about Southern California’s cougar population.” For the …show more content…

Just as the father in the novel says, “They’ll never bother you unless they are wounded or cornered, but if they are, you had better look out.” (pg. 125). There have been fourteen documented attacks in California since 1986, three of them fatal. (https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Mammals/Mountain-Lion/Attacks ). In 2004, there was a woman attacked while mountain biking. Witnesses to the attack on the woman said “the mountain lion clamped its jaws around her head and dragged her off the trail before she was rescued by other riders.” (http://articles.latimes.com/2004/jan/09/local/me-lion9) That same day a man was found dead nearby. It was not clear if he died from being attacked by the mountain lion or if he had died from a heart attack because the lion had eaten his heart. (http://tchester.org/sgm/lists/lion_attacks_ca.html). While it is rare to be attacked by mountain lions, it does happen. I personally am not taking any

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