Have to say, this cougar killing a human, will not earn them any brownie points. Been a long while in WA, that a cougar (what we call them up here) has chowed down and killed a human. We had one in our hood last year (several confirmed sightings), but haven't seen it around, as of late. Too many dogs in hood I suspect. Cougars are sneaky buggers. I've only seen one, checking me out while I walked down a mountain road in Alberta. It followed me from a distance. I think it knew I was watching it. Once their cover is blown, it seems to me they are less likely to attack. Of course, if they are emaciated (hungry), all bets are off.
Folks are more nervous about a cougar than a bear. Rather ironic, since bears do most of the human killing around here. I tend to agree, as bears are not very stealthy. I hear them bashing through the bush quite often. And they are easy to see.
Without cougars, the deer population would explode. We have enough deer as it is. One of the things we have to put up with, I suppose, living in areas with plenty of game. Now, we have a wolf pack in our hood (made the news because it harassed a person walking their dogs).
It would be nice not having to worry about be being 'bear aware' or 'cougar aware' when hiking in the mountains, but it seems we have this notion we can co-exist (what does that really mean?). A bit of a lottery to me. I avoid solo jaunts in mountains or forested paths out my back door (especially dawn or dusk), or if I do, it is on a dirt bike, one that makes lots of noise, and has a good horn...lol. A bear popped out of the bush while I was dirt biking in hills two summers ago...I would have run right into him, had he not turned tail and bolted. I had to slow down or I'd catch up to him...seems he found the old forestry road more to his liking. Took him a bit to figure out he could avoid the noisy machine with a human on it, by veering back into bush. I was thinking of stopping and turning around, but I was a bit discombobulated by almost running into a bear...by the time I collected myself, he was gone.