155 Wildlif e Distribution of cougar s in British Columbia Dar k colour indicat es moderat e t o plentiful in abundance light co lo ur indicat e s f e w o r v e r y f e w T w o dif f erent scenarios ma y arise should y ou encount er a cougar 1 Y ou are being w atc hed If y ou no t ice a cougar w atching y ou f ace the cougar stand as tall as y ou can and tr y t o appear as large as possible open y our jack e t Back a w a y slo wly still f acing it Do no t cr ouch do wn or turn y our back on it and DO NO T R UN Climbing a tree will no t help as the y are e x cellent climber s and can easily drag y ou fr om the tree Some sa y that staring do wn a mountain lion is f olklore that actually w or ks So as long as y ou mak e e y e contact the cat is unlik ely t o charge Y ou ma y be able t o dif fuse the situation e v en fur ther b y y a wning and sho wing the cat that y ou are bored with it 2 The cougar is running at y ou If u n arme d there is pr o bably little y ou can do bu t pu t y o u r pack o ut in fr ont o f y o u t o pr o t e ct y o u r se lf or pr o t e ct y o u r se lf with an ax e clu b or hamme r T r y t o infict pain o n the animal with y o u r w e apo n o r with a large stick o r r o ck A cou gars pain thre sho ld i s v e r y lo w Ai m f o r the f ace and e y e s Y o u mu st ne v er ru n a w a y as this be ha vior trigger s their instinct t o chase Thr o w r o cks o r branche s at it If y ou w ar d o f f an attack tr eat an y inju r y asse ss the situ ation and ratio nally plan y o u r ne xt mo v e K e ep co o l R epor t all a t t ac ks to a C onser v a t ion ofcer of t he B C F ish and W ildlif e Br anc h