Cougar Medecine

Signature of Puma concolor couguar (for reference, lense cap is 2.4'' / 6cm in diameter)

In the still of the night, a deer expires. The web of the forest, stretched for a fluttery moment of animal panic, springs back into baseline like a blade of grass in a feline footprint. A 3 inch footprint to be precise. Roundish, with no claw marks, two lobes on the interdigital pad, inner toe visibly larger than outer toe and further forward, third toe from the outside leading (same as your hand, human) and toes offset and pointing in a different direction than the pad. The scene* takes place at Maplewood Flats, unbeknownst to most of the daily human visitors or even the preserve volunteers. This is the medecine of the cougar, to be seen only when wishing to. Living at times close to the habitat of humans, who might never know of their presence despite years of proximity. It isn't surprising that these lowland Flats would be a sought-out place for cougars: dense undergrowth, lots of deer. Curious looking bipeds acting funny, with no visible natural instincts, a cougar's version of the cinema. Except movie actors know they're watched...


*The part about the deer kill was a projection, no actual sign of this was found.