More horses means more potential food sources for cougars and other predators, but it also means more competition for the other animals that eat the same food as the horses. The reason this rarely happens anyway is that Mountain Lions are typically not coming thatâs close to people and farm animals. About 83,000 roam the West â more than three times what federal managers say the land can sustain. They prefer eating larger animals like deer, but in Florida they have been found to prefer feral hogs and armadillos. Its main prey is deer including the white-tailed deer, the elk, and even the largest ones, the moose. Mountain lions are natural predators of wild horses and burros. âIt shocked me that a mountain lion ⦠The coat of the Mountain Lion is light brown in color, and the fur is short and coarse. Mountain lions have been known to attack older or weaker horses in the field. You want to show it that you are not prey and you are not scared. Mountain Lion abilities, tracks, names, population, appearance, habitat, prey, safety, protection, endangered or threatened status. Let mountain lions eat horses. The problem with the horses is that they are an invasive species. And FYI, you cannot outrun a mountain lion, they can run up to 50mph. They are also known to hunt and eat other animals like goats and sheep or rodents like rabbits, capybaras, and porcupines. The horse population will grow as much as the availability of food and predation will allow. They certainly can put down that horse caught off guard and they also have the strength and tactics to do so. Some studies suggest that high levels of mountain lion predation essentially negate population growth in some wild horse herds. The tail of the Mountain Lion is about one-third the entire length of the body. They eat about 10 pounds of meat a day, and only eat meat. Mountain lions normally eat things like deer and sheep, but will eat anything from mice to elk. But between hunting tags and government kill programs aimed at protecting livestock, thousands of mountain lions are killed on ⦠Mountain lions are carnivores, which means that they feed on other animals to survive. This is a list of known or suspected fatal cougar attacks that occurred in North America by decade in chronological order.The cougar is also commonly known as mountain lion, puma, mountain cat, catamount, or panther.The sub-population in Florida is known as the Florida panther.. A total of 125 attacks, 27 of which are fatal, have been documented in North America in the past 100 years. Mountain lions are a generalist predator - it will eat any animal it can catch, from insects to large animals like elk, moose, deer, and bighorn sheep. The largest Mountain Lion ever to be documented weighed 276 pounds, but a Lion of this size is extremely rare. What Do Mountain Lions Eat? These apex predators balance ecosystems and could help to regulate wild horse populations. Kleinfelter said mountain lionsâ natural prey are deer, so they typically close in on animals of the same size â about 100 to 150 pounds. By next summer their numbers could grow to 100,000. What do Mountain Lions Eat? Mountain Lions usually weigh between 75-175 pounds.