Actually, all 200 of these people could have leapt on it at once; probably only 3 or 4 would have been killed.

The question is, who got the prime cuts of Mountain Lion Filet Mignon?

10-15 years ago:

California banned all Mountain Lion hunting by ballot initiative. I remember the commercials -- cute cougar kittens playing, intercut with blind-drunk Elmer Fudd's hosing everything within range of their Semi-automatic Assault-type Weapons.

Naturally, the initiative passed. In California, the vast majority of the population are in the big urban areas of San Francisco Bay and Greater Los Angeles, and have never seen a live animal except for pets; the only wildlife normally visible are birds, rats, mice, and the occasional wild rabbit.

Earlier this year:

We had our first genuine man-eater up near Silverado Canyon, right off my regular route home from work. Coog killed and ate most of a bicyclist, stashed the leftovers, and a day later tried for another two-legged kill who got away.

Ken:

CA politics being what it is, I can't tell which parts, if any, of your post are satire.

I say we use Peta members as bait.

Mountain lion attacks are more rare than lightning strikes. The pathetic thing is that these oh-so-environmentally-correct suburbanites (particularly in Palo Alto) are more than willing to restrict ranchers' land rights in the name of 'habitat', but when the actual critter wanders into their backyard, they want it shot on sight.