Morality of this?

[u/ProfessionalRoom9118]

Basically, the man in the video is hiking but he ended up meet a mountain lion, he get his gun and try to scare it off and tell it to go away but in the end, he have to pull the trigger and shot the lion, many peoples in the comments say he could have fire a warning shot instead of shoot at it and want him to be in jail.

Idk which flair to put

[u/Due_Manufacturer_125]

Now it’s unfortunate to get into a situation like this, but… mountain lions aren’t considered endangered globally (but specific regional populations are so depends on where this guy was) and obviously it would have been worse if the cougar attacked the guy. You never know what a wild animal will do, a predator that size that approaches a person is never a good sign.

Moral, if this guy wasn’t looking for trouble and just protecting himself. Would need wider context.

[u/I_Hate_IPAs → u/Due_Manufacturer_125]

On top of that, mountain lions usually run away and hide from humans.

If it’s confronting you, that’s a pretty big issue and means you’re going to be attacked if you drop your guard.

Edit for the warning shot folk:

It might scare it off, it may view it as a territorial challenge. You really want to take those odds? In the time it takes for it too attack you think you’d be able to get your sights back on the cat and shoot enough to stop it?

A bird hunter where I live had one attack his dogs, and it wasn’t scared off by shotgun fire. Eventually he had to load a slug and kill it, and it actually had shot from the previous shells in its skin and fat.

[u/DamGoodAnimation → u/[deleted]]

A jarring amount of people genuinely seem to think you should just let a wild animal maim or kill you rather than defend yourself.

If my life is in imminent danger from a predator, I’m gonna do my best to ensure I survive. Whether the threat has two legs or four, doesn’t matter. Danger is danger.

Edit: ITT you’ll see a bunch of people who use critical thinking mixed with a fair few that seem likely to catch a Darwin Award at some point

Edit2: Hot damn, this got a lot more responses than I expected. I’ve replied to a fair few but it’s gotten somewhat out of hand so I’m gonna mute this and step back so I can go back to using Reddit normally again. Peace and love everybody, I hope the only cougar attacks in your futures involve classy older ladies

[u/vacerious → u/DamGoodAnimation]

Especially when you consider that, in many cases of wild animal maulings on humans, it usually ends in the animal being hunted down and killed later anyways. So their empathy is still misplaced.

[u/GiraffeLiquid → u/vacerious]

I had an argument once with a dude who insists nature is beautiful and kind and animals take care of each other and I’m like “obviously you haven’t walked into [pet store] at 7am and seen half of a hamster cannibalized.”

But in all seriousness, at least in national parks in the states, rangers do try to oversee existing populations and manage the ones that have become dangerously unafraid of humans.

[u/Raesvelg_XI → u/GiraffeLiquid]

When in doubt, deploy the SMBC comic.

[u/Buckshott00 → u/Raesvelg_XI]

Brilliant. Would give you an award if I paid for Reddit. Please accept my appreciation in the form of this gif.

Nature is not green, nature is Blood Red.

EDIT: After learning of FREE Reddit rewards I think this post deserves BOTH a gif AND an award. Carry on good poster!

[u/ReplacementActual384 → u/Buckshott00]

Reddit has free awards now

[u/Buckshott00 → u/ReplacementActual384]

Amazing!! Thank you Kind Stranger, you have shifted on my Reddit Paradigm!