Driftboater - You obviously have much more of a vested interest in this topic than I, and probably have more time to "play." But, just so you won't go away empty-handed, here's a couple of links to statistics that I managed to find during a preliminary search:

Cougar attack stats

2000 black Bear harvest

2000 Cougar harvest

Downloadable PDF harvest trend stats

1998 Game harvest stats PDF

If you click on the links provided in each of these links, much more data is available.


I disagree on the shark example being apples/oranges. It CLEARLY illustrates my point about media hype distorting the public's perception of the real dangers at hand.

As far as dogs go, you are using the argument that there is now an imminent danger to children from cougars as a direct result of the passage of I-655 causing them to lose their fear of man. I'm putting it into relative terms by citing the FACT that many MORE children are killed by dogs.

If you were to draw the logical conclusion it would be: Dogs are more dangerous than cougars. Why aren't you advocating reduction of this danger by it's elimination?