The maul of the wild. Animal attacks can produce significant trauma

Wild-animal attacks are almost an anachronism in our day and age. They remind us that humans can still be food or prey. Cougar attacks, though rare, produce significant trauma. Characteristic patterns of injury and wound infection should be appropriately identified and treated. As we protect wild-animal species and acknowledge their right to share territory, interactions--and possibly attacks--are likely to increase. Awareness, education, knowledge and prevention, rather than the elimination of animal populations, may be the best way to control wild-animal attacks on humans in the future.