My mother was afraid of any animal with teeth. So we never had a pet as kids.

Later in life I took a job traveling to malls with pet stores around the country taking portrait photos of pets, mostly cats and dogs. Out of the ordinary I photographed a Goldfish, a three month old cougar, two snakes, a sheep and a mouse.

I had only got one animal that tried to attack me. A guy in jumpsuit brought his medium but very muscular and VERY hyper pitbull. It wasn't big but it looked dangerous. I got the owner to sit him on the floor and stay after a few tries.

I got only one shot. Normally I would take about eight shots in different positions. When I triggered the camera the three flash units startled the dog and he went right for me. Luckley the owner was ready for it and quickly grabbed the dogs' collar and stopped him just in time.

At the end of the shoot the only poop I had to clean up was my own and unlike my mother I only fear muscular pitbulls.

Fun Fact: This cougar is still hunting rabbits and deer for no other reason than he's 170 miles into an area where people tranquilize and truck him away from populated areas instead of bumpstocking 30 rounds of 5.56×45mm NATO through his falling corpse.



...not that there's anything wrong with that.

Left to right at the end of the video:
John Cougar, Ann Wilson(?) & Nancy Wilson [Heart], Josh Groban, Usher, Cheryl Crow, Michael Bolton, Dan Reynolds (?) [Imagine Dragons], Cyndi Lauper

Usher, Cheryl Crow, John Cougar, and one guy looks kinda like the guy from Imagine Dragons. Other bearded guy looks familiar, but I can't place the name.

Glitching like Red Dead Redemption.

http://videosift.com/video/Holy-Shit-A-flying-horse

http://videosift.com/video/Red-Dead-The-abominable-Cougar-Man

http://videosift.com/video/Red-Dead-Redemption-Hes-Had-Enough-of-Living-Funny

http://videosift.com/video/Red-Dead-Redemption-Bloopers-Glitches-Silly-Stuff-2

While the shrooms can give one more control over the size of their Cougars, it is decidedly easier to just feed them the cake.

That's a baby.

She's lucky it's probably (barely) old enough to be away from mama cougar (I'm 95% sure that's what it is). Looks like it weighs 70-80 pounds or so. Large adults get up to five feet at the shoulder and can weigh over 200 pounds.

Congratulations! Your video, Cougar released from trap, has reached the #1 spot in the current Top 15 New Videos listing. This is a very difficult thing to accomplish but you managed to pull it off. For your contribution you have been awarded 2 Power Points.

This achievement has earned you your "Golden One" Level 1 Badge!

Congratulations! Your comment on Cougar released from trap has just received enough votes from the community to earn you 1 Power Point. Thank you for your quality contribution to VideoSift.

Your video, Cougar released from trap, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

My Uncle used to work at the animal control facility at Mirabel International Airport North of Montreal. I visited him when I was young and he would have all manner of exotic animals at his house (parrots, a chimp, etc).

At one point someone, I kid you not, tried to smuggle in a cub Mountain Cougar. Algernon was confiscated and put into my Uncles care.

He ultimately took on ownership of Algernon. When I was just 7 years old I remember visiting him and being chased down and scratched by young Algernon. He was cute, but those claws let you know what he would grow into.

Fast forward another 7 years and my Uncle moved to Ontario close to our town. We would visit every now and then and see Algernon. At his maturity he was 15 foot from head to tail. He would live inside the house in a converted room for his needs with a huge cage door. He would spend time outside on a very long, very fortified run. To feed Algernon my Uncle would open the door to his room, close it behind him and deliver the food. My Uncle is all 5' 4" tall, but you wouldn't know it. Algernon would put his front paws up on my Uncles shoulders and you would just hear my Uncle in a slightly annoyed voice "shoo" Algernon off like he was a pesky kitten trying to jump on him for dinner.

I remember sitting at the foot of his cage door looking into his eyes. A few things I learned... never look directly into a large cats eyes and never... never turn your back to a large cat.

Algernon eventually went on to a wildlife preserve that took great care of him until end of life... although not lucky to be taken out of his habitat he sure was well kept post smuggling.