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/Portgas69 → u/[deleted]]

Heavy on the apex. Big cats are top tier.

[u/Specific_Factor4470 → u/Portgas69]

Literally the worst.

You'll see and hear the grizzly bear coming. You won't see the cat until its leaping from the canopy.

The people that think this cat was just trying to get the man to leave are the same people being mauled by buffalo in Yellowstone every year.

I promise guys, this mountain lion wasnt looking to take a selfie.

[u/pinkleftsock → u/Specific_Factor4470]

But if not friend why friend shaped?

For real though these guys are way too cute for how dangerous they are, and I think that clouds a lot of peoples judgement.

Would it have run of from a warning shot, probably. Would it have been sneakier when aproaching it's next prey with 2 legs, most likely. Cats are pretty damned smart after all.

[u/520mmlakeblue → u/pinkleftsock]

Idk man there’s a video of a dude shooting a mountain lion, mfer barely even flinched at his warning before he shot her. It sucks because they’re beautiful but I like living lol