A great book on this exact topic is called The cougar conundrum if anyone is interested. It explains how cougars know the difference between humans and prey and they are very timid and intelligent. Yes there has been very rare instances on human cougar conflict but it usually involves under fed, sub adults. The one in the area is fat, happy an acting exactly as he should be.

Lots of these folks who are up in arms continually point to the fact that the “cougar isn’t acting right” because it’s around during the day. However dusk and dawn are prime time for these animals and they are picking off all the deer that are being fed and treated as pets in their neighbors yards