Listening to Cougar

This excellent and compelling collection of primarily personal essays by conservationists on their encounters with cougars successfully gives voice to a ""controversial"" animal. In ""The Growl,"" naturalist Steve Edwards traces his journey from fear, after finding a cougar under his cabin, to collaboration, as he helps what he dubs the ""innocent"" animal avoid being killed by state police. Cougar expert David Stoner describes in detail how the animals live in the Colorado Plateau, which he calls one of the most rugged and least accessible landscapes left in North America, while American Indian expert Steve Pavlik examines the role of the cougar in Navajo mythology, emphasizing the importance of mountain lion beliefs and practices in traditional culture. But most notable are those essays that explore the ""psychological value"" of cougars, exemplified by teacher and activist Suzanne Duarte's ""My Bush Soul, the Mountain Lion,"" a beautiful evocation of and tribute to her experience with the spirit of the mountain lion and how it began her initiation into the ""deeper secrets of the psyche."" With its wide range of scientific and cultural approaches, this impressive collection will help to shed light on America's greatest cat.