I was doing a story the other day about a mountain lion in Paradise and I wrote the following phrase: "Several cougars are known to wander the area near the playground." Upon further review I realized I needed to do a little revision. If we ran that story as is, undoubtedly viewers would call in worried that a pack of botox-infested middle age women were patrolling a Paradise playground looking for some action.
    I write that as proof that the cougar craze has gotten completely out of control. For example, try doing a Google search on "Cougar." The first result you get is a link to UrbanDictionary.com explaining that a cougar is "An older woman who frequents clubs in order to score with a much younger man." After that you do get a Wikipedia entry for actual mountain lions, but it's followed by another Wikipedia entry with the heading "Age disparity in sexual relationships." After that it's just a slew of news articles describing the latest cougar themed television shows, none of which are on Animal Planet.
    As always the real victims here are the children. Pity the poor 5th grader who's assigned to do a book report on mountain lions. Instead of finding awesome facts on actual pumas (like how they can jump 15 ft) little Jimmy comes back with a bio of Courteney Cox. Now mom has to explain what "Cougar town" is and why Monica from Friends is living there.
     Given the sudden onslaught of cougar coverage on television can we all agree that this movement has jumped the shark. It's become more cliche then the middle age man buying a Porsche and running off with his secretary. I also have a fundamental problem with the perception that an older woman has to have plastic surgery and sleep with the pool boy to be sexy. What's wrong with a hot mom who makes great sandwiches and dates the nice divorced doctor from down the street?
    I'm calling for a boycott on all cougar related media that doesn't involve actual animals. No more reality shows, dramas or websites. The only cougar related video I want to see is this sweet Youtube clip of a mountain lion fighting a bear. If attractive older women want to seek out younger men they can do it for their own entertainment, not to fulfill this bloated stereotype. It's time for the majestic mountain cats can reclaim the name that was so wrongly stolen from them. Growwwwl!