Well my turn to take a crack at this being a bona fide Cougar. haha

I am one of the original charter members of the former active web dating site on Cougars out of Vancouver. I still hold a free membership there due to my promotion of the site and in welcoming new members to the site when it was active.

This site was started by <b>two</b> divorced cougars the founders who wanted somewhere to find dates for themselves preferring a younger man. BCTV ran a story on them as well as every newspaper in the country including The Globe and Mail and McLeans Magazine and many radio stations. We had profiles set up from all over the world. The site was busied out many times with so many people trying to access it that they hired a tech to revamp it thus costing them <b>money</b> so they had to start charging a <b>fee</b> the reason for it's demise in the end.

The original spoof was:
Cubs = 20's
Puma's = 30's
Cougars = 40's
Jaguars = 50's

The age of the prey were also defined as white tailed deer, stag etc

Uneducated people refer to any older woman who is interested in a young man prey as a COUGAR.

Not all women are interested in younger men that call themselves Cougar's they prefer prey their own age as well but still use the term Cougar as a strong woman in charge of her own life.

So yes most people think a Cougar means a short term sex partner with no committment. I knew many typical Cougars in Vancouver who do exactly as men have been doing for years with women... picking young men up in bars taking them home and preying upon them known as a mauling. I do know many more that want and are living lives with a younger man some married now even. The cougar and prey scenario usually means at the minimum a 10 yr gap in age. Sometimes it is closer to 15 to 20 yrs difference between them in their ages.

The misconception seems to be that the Cougar does the hunting but truth be known as per Valerie Gibson's interviews the Author of Cougar and the earlier book Younger Men How to Find Them, Date Them, Mate Them & Marry Them. The cougar need not hunt but is the hunted. The prey far outnumber the cougars and is much sought after in our society all over the world. I have never hunted but have been the hunted time after time since I became a Cougar and dated my first Prey the younger man who sought me for months before I agreed to see him.

Many many many Cougars seek long term relationships with a younger prey as they are more fun to be with. They are not stuck to the couch with the remote but rather will go out and do fun things with the Cougar. For many Cougars their cubs have left home, she is divorced, she is financially secure, her goals are set for life as well as her retirement plans. She knows what she wants and that is a fine speciman of a man who has stamina, is athletic usually and treats her like the Queen as she should be. Being in the prime of her life her sexual match of course is a younger prey who is openminded and unihibited as she is.

The original Vancouver social group of cougars and prey that met on the Cougar Site first met as a social group over <b>five</b> years ago last February when the Cougar Site started to charge for membership. The site died immediately as no one back then would pay to find a date on a site when there were other sites free of charge and of course chat rooms on the net. This social group met many times for parties in public places for drinking and dancing. The first party was such a hit they planned another and another and so on. Some parties had 50 or more Cougar's and Prey in attendance. This group appeared in 2 television documentaries, appeared on the Ricki Lake Show flying to New York to appear as well as were filmed in party mode as well for the Ricki Lake footage and both documentries film footage.

We have a <b>msn</b> community where some of us still keep in contact but seeing as <b>msn</b> is giving all adult rated sites over to another company to manage we are moving to a new <b>msn</b> community rated as mature.

I am aware of a couple of other Cougar groups in Vancouver one which was also featured in the most recent documentry filmed last fall about this time. There are a couple of Cougar Bars in Vancouver and of course in every other large city in Canada. The Cougar's do prowl their local drinking establishments as they do love to drink, smoke, dance and party.

Anyway just some info for those wishing to know more about the elusive Cougar in BC.

Brandy