Bears!

Case in point, a buddy I met out on Vancouver Island while I was backpackin and hitchin round there, showed me photos of a backcountry trip he did with friends a few years ago. In one, it wasn't until he developed the photos did he realise there was a mountain lion starring down at them all day from a tree top. There's a group photo and everyone's all smiles, and perched up on a branch above is a mountain lion, stretched out along the branch, very much at ease, but ready to strike if she wanted.

I heard about a guy out there, a retired logger, was hiking out in the Campbell River area and jumped into a semi sheltered cave during a bad storm. Wasn't till he got in that he realised a mountain lion had the same idea. The two wrestled, it tore him to bits, but he finally managed to open his 3 inch swiss army blade and get it in the throat. I guess he lived but had lost an ear, an eyeball and his scalp. I think he seperated his shoulder, and had tons of other lacerations on his body too, crawled out of the forset to a road and somehow made it to a hospital in good time.