A women has just knocked on the door & told me infront of my 3 children she found Puma sized prints in her garden.

[TheSleepFairy]

Thank fuck DD's don't know what a puma is!!!
Said negibour then went on about how huge they were & that she feared it was after her rabbits etc.

AIBU to think she is thoughless?

DD's are 8, 6 & 2 & currently think she found reindeer foot prints in her garden

Nfn!

Bears are worse, harder to act dead when you want to piss yourself and run away. Pumas are pretty easy to scare away unless they have babies nearby. You just kind of instinctively know that you can't outrun a big cat, anyway.

Don't you think that people living in Backwoods America just have to know how to deal with these beasties? Buckle up you lot.

I'm more scared of midges, personally .

Pumas have been sighted in Herts where I live. One of the sightings 3 years ago was by 2 local policemen. I doubt they'd lie. Apparently these animals escape from zoos.
OP I don't think she was being insensitive. She was genuinely trying to warn you from what she thought was danger

I just got jollyoldstnickschick's VERY good joke.

haa ha ha

wilf i heart you

How exciting!
I wish I had a puma in my garden

Current advice if you come across a bear and they are obviously aware of you is not to play dead but to walk away carefully and quietly whilst keeping eye contact. If you are on your own make your self look as big as possible, but don't be aggressive and in no circumstances run. For grizzlies you can climb a tree, but not for a black bear as they are very good climbers. Generally the advice is to be noisy in bear country so they get the chance to run away from you.

The advice we've been given by our neighbours is to travel in a group and make sure someone in the group runs slower than you do!

So far we've only met a few and they have been totally oblivious to us (too busy eating!). We did have one in our garden this autumn (we live in British Columbia).

DS1 would be out of his mind with excitement and would have kitted up immediately to go puma hunting. I blame Steve Brackshall, him and his biceps.

aw, I don't want sensible answers about footprints getting bigger as snow melts. I want to hear about real life pumas on the loose stalking the denizens of a part of the country that is quite far from my own back garden but near enough to be exciting.

Btw nooka, do you really mean maintain eye contact? I thought the idea with wild animals is NOT to look them in the eye as that can be interpreted as a challenge?

Now I need a Puma Plan in addition to Zombie Plan? Can it be the same with minor adjustments?

I seriously fret about being totally unable to remember which bear can do what and how to escape from them. Which is silly of me, as I am highly unlikely ever to see one on Merseyside.

does the puma plan get filed with zombie or cows? and do we need a zombie puma plan?

I read it as in Puma Trainers and she was going to tell your kids off as she thought they had been in her garden messing it up!

hat that's not funny.
I can cope with puma's stalking about in the back garden - 3 legged puma's as apparently there were only 3 prints, but zombie puma's? I will not be sleeping in the pop up Dora tent with my night flash camera now......

I might have to name-change after this, but I think I saw one when I was a child.

I was staying with my aunt in Norfolk one Easter about 30 years ago and I saw an enormous black cat in her orchard. My cousin said she'd seen it too but my aunt insisted that the dogs would have scared it off.

They lived about half a mile from Wayland Wood which is the original setting for 'Babes in The Wood'.

It must be a zombie puma as its legs keep falling off

It was carrying the 4th in its mouth and looking for thread.

My dd thinks puma means "pants up my arse" .

I am so telling the kids that I've seen dragon prints outside in the snow. That will get them out from under my feet tomorrow :)

Hang on. So you have a three legged, hovering puma in your road. That is brilliant.

dragons are real though

Am I the only one who thought Puma trainers??

Rofl @ gift

ear in hindsight I could have thought of something more time consuming than reindeers but I was put on the spot

BitOfFun, There are no bears on Merseyside.You need to get a grip,and sort out your priorities. Get back to finesssing your Zombie Plan - it's the solstice tomorrow, an eclipse, anything that is likely to howl at the moon will be doing it tomorrow.