Everything I've read on African killer cats says that usually the animal has been injured somehow and can't get their normal food. Anything from a broken jaw from a prey animal to a porcupine quill up the nose that got infected.
However, there are cats (usually leapords from what I've read) that figure out that the hairless monkeys are easier to catch than a gemsbok. There's nothing wrong with them, unless you figure they're lazy
I've hunted and camped in Arizona my whole life and I've seen the ass-end of one cougar. For a second. But that was a cat who probably had little contact with humans and was scared of us.
It's the cougars that, because of encroaching on their habitats, lose their fear. Then we go from being an unknown threat to being lunch. And it seems that once they decide to become maneaters, that's what they will be until they are killed.
Right now the cougar population in California is very healthy. In fact, it is probably too numerous, but they wont allow hunting them. You can hunt them in Arizona, but it's not easy and you usually need a dog pack to tree them. The population is monitored very carefully so that they are not overhunted or allowed to expand past the resources of their range. As is every animal in Arizona.
