[GladesGuru]

Having talked to the man who shot the pictures, I have no other choice than to say that you are not correct in your position. If nothing else, the snarling cat shot should have convinced you to reassess your premise.

The man who lived with the cat knew its behavioral history. Given the choice of accepting the description of what happened from the person on the scene, or someone with neither knowledge or first hand experience, the choice is, to me quite clear.

I do, however, have a question for you. Knowing that the photographer had the on site experience with this predator, why the need to attempt to convince others that a predator known to regularly attack people was simply admiring it's reflection?

Especially since the reflection from a door is much weaker than from a mirror - and the photo is through a glass door.

PS The light source is behind the glass on the side of the photographer, not the cat. For the cat to have seen a reasonable "mirror" image the cat would have had to be more brightly lit than the glass on the other side from the cat.

Such was not the case. Your "mirror" premise fails on both physics/optics and biological/behavioral grounds.

[moondoggie]

Okay...believe what you will, Guru.

BTW...the most reports I've seen of cougars "regularly" attacking people is near large urban areas such as CA. where they're being squeezed out of their natural habitat.

In places where there's still plenty of wilderness, they're very elusive and will almost always avoid human contact unless they're sick or starving.