My favorite story stems from a park ranger in Oregon (IIRC) who was giving a tour, and they were carrying a 15’ (5m) long pole. As were about halfway through, they were taking about cougars, and they stopped next to a tree, and they explained that if a cougar is after you, climbing a tree is not a recommended defense; the pole was a demonstration of how high an adult cougar can jump, straight up.
Those of us with house cats were not surprised, but still. It helped put things into perspective.
My favorite story stems from a park ranger in Oregon (IIRC) who was giving a tour, and they were carrying a 15’ (5m) long pole. As were about halfway through, they were taking about cougars, and they stopped next to a tree, and they explained that if a cougar is after you, climbing a tree is not a recommended defense; the pole was a demonstration of how high an adult cougar can jump, straight up.
Those of us with house cats were not surprised, but still. It helped put things into perspective.