As far as I can tell, they simply took the superstitions from the American Indian. I married a member of the Seminole Nation. Forgot what clan is hers but her family is very superstitious.
Back to the article you read, some pantheistic bureaucrat probably wants to talk to the lion before they draw any conclusions.
Also, it was interesting that when such events occurred, a referendum would come up to take the puma (mountain lion) off the protected species list. Rural kalifornians voted yes, typically. But the referendum was always voted down by people in LA, San fran, Sac.
That could be, or some variant of air-head. I thought it might be just an ordinary crime scene template that got left in there because and nobody caught, because “nobody” proofreads.