Can a cougar kill a human?

Yes, a cougar can kill a human. But it is exceedingly rare for a cougar to attack a human and most often when it does happen the cougar attacks a child that is unsupervised. The cougar or mountain lion is not a small cat but neither is the cougar that big. The weight of the cougar varies between 55 and 176 pounds taking into account females and males. It is the 4th largest wildcat after the jaguar, lion and tiger.

It is a relatively shy and retiring wildcat. I write about the cougar attack on this page. The page includes ways to avoid an attack. There have been very few mountain lion attacks especially considering the fact that cougar and human occupy the same territory. In California there have been 14 attacks in 117 years and most led to injuries not death. On occasion cougars suffer from rabies that causes the attack. In which case it is not a malicious, unprovoked attack.

I am sure that there are many people (sport hunters?) who think differently. Too many cougars are shot needlessly through our unjustified fear.