How reasonable would it be for a wolf to raise a cougar?

[Alfhildr]

As a future plot for Alf, how reasonable would it be? Say the cub is a couple months old, so it can be feasibly weaned, and she found its mother dead nearby (scavenged for most of its worth too), which led to her finding the baby. Babies? Maybe there was some sort of size difference/health difference present between the cubs and the others have died since the mother's death, while the one she finds is a little trooper. If we were to compare cougar cub weaning age to that of the puppy guide, that would make the cub about three years old mentally, right? And since cougars naturally speak high speech and don't have pronounced vocal differences when compared to wolves, there shouldn't too many communication issues. Which would be good, because she'd be keeping it as less of a pet, and more of an adopted kid of sorts.

She'd probably find it somewhere near the Pictou River, which would be within the mother's assumed hunting range before her death, so she wouldn't have to travel too far to find the cub. And since she probably won't try and sneak it into New Dawn's territory right away, it would lend itself to easy access so she can tend to the cub until she can get the okay to move it to a safer location. Y'know, in a pack full of small children. Great idea, I'm sure. They'll understand that just fine.

But beside the logistics of moving the cub and getting leader permission to keep it within the pack's land, what would be drawbacks for raising one? How much work daily would go into taking care of the cub? How feasible would it be for it to walk beside Alf/be carried around?

[Tal Tlvdatsi]

I don't know about the logistics, but I know of a few different characters that have raised bobcats, I can't imagine a cougar would be much different.

[Salvia Eternity]

Actually, we have answered this on Tumblr. :3

Personally, I think the main thing is the size of a cougar and its own instinctive drives; I wouldn't want one as a companion because I imagine them to be very uncontrollable, especially once they realize how big/powerful they are. That could cause some issues for your pack as well. Given New Dawn is very old school, I'm not sure how comfortable they'd feel about sharing land with another big predator, haha.

[Alfhildr]

There have? I wasn't aware, but that's neat. The only real difference I can see would be size and perceived/actual threat level.

And I apologize for not realizing that. ^_^ But yes, I agree that those would be the main concerns of, well, everyone. Even Alf would, surely, realize eventually that that would make it difficult. And like you said, New Dawn is old school, and therefor probably wouldn't appreciate a cougar (even an itty bitty one) growing up on the pack's land. I'm sure Alf would try and rationalize it using her moral compass and the fact that, hey, maybe he could be a sort of guard cat in exchange for food/adequate housing. xD

[Salvia Eternity]

Yup! Most people have smaller animals--my primary, Salvia here, has a companion European lynx, which actually have been known to kill and eat wolf puppies/etc. Mine in fact is aggressive to wolves, but since my character leads her pack she can basically do whatever she wants, haha. XD

Maybe talk to Nat about it? Alternatively, Alf could raise a cub and then send it away? Most predators do that with their offspring, so it wouldn't be weird for the cub or anything. :3

[Alfhildr]

Y'know, a smaller animal would absolutely be more feasible, but this is Alf. I've played her on various sites for years and she is so known for biting off more than she can chew, that it would be silly to change the bab critter she finds to something less large and/or dangerous. And Salvia's lynx is pretty neat. :3

I'll do that eventually, but I just wanted to see if anyone saw any genuine logistical issues that would make themselves known immediately, or that I should keep in mind, even if Alf didn't. And that's the thing with Alf, if she sent it away, she could be primarily concerned with its well-being alongside its own kind, and secondarily concerned that it might fall back on its history with wolves, leading to potential chaos.

But yeah, I'll send a PM to Nat and discuss the matter, for the sake of knowing whether or not she'd be able to obtain something even vaguely resembling permission to house the cub in the pack's land.

[Salvia Eternity]

Hey, some characters like challenges! Like I said, the main concern is just realism. As long as you keep things more or less within the realm of possibility, you should be all right. It never hurts to ask if you have concerns, though. :3

ND is very close to Aelcrest Shore as well, and could provide a future home for the cougar if the pack won't house it? Alf could even sneak off to raise it if that's the case, which could prove a fun plot for you. Either way, have fun with it. :>

[Myrika Tears]

Eris got a cougar as a gift a looong time ago: she raised it for a few months in youth, and then killed it when it got too big/wild/uncontrollable. What I remember pulling from the discussion about this stuff is -- if you try to treat a cougar like a pet (like, "do what I tell you and obey me") it ain't going to work out very well. If you treat the cougar as a friend, though -- that's more plausible, since it'd be the cougar's choice as to whether to stay or go. :3 Befriending a big cat isn't outside of the realm of possibility, since they do speak high speech and are reasonably intelligent.