What do you do if stalked by a Catamount

I just finished reading a short article from Backpacker Magazine regarding being stalked by a cougar. Well the first thing mentioned is that there is not much you can do to be proactive against an attack. Very comforting. This, however, is because mountain lions attack by surprise. They stalk, sneak up and pounce on unsuspecting prey. And unless you have superhuman senses you most likely will not see a mountain lion that is stalking you until it is too late. Now if you do happen to see a cougar, rare but sightings do occur, give the animal space, do not run. If you do see cubs in the area move as slowly as possible to give as much distance between you and the animals, mother cougars will attack a full grown grizzly bear to protect their young, I've even seen videos of mountain lions chasing away grown grizzlies when cougar cubs are present. Now, at this point the information may just seem more and more grim and haven't the slightest chance of surviving an encounter with a mountain lion, this is not so. Biologist Rick Hopkins states "If cougars saw people as food, there'd be hundreds of attacks a year instead of one or two. Don't act like prey and you won't be a victim." Basically man has lived in mountain lion territory for eons and as Rick Hopkins says don't act like prey and you won't be a victim. Act brave and fight back if necessary. I read a few months back how a young and possible sickly mountain lion came in to a camp grounds area in Texas and attacked a six year old boy, the father was able to save his child by fighting it off with a pocket knife, not a crocodile Dundee knife. Bear spray or sticks can also do the trick. Also waving your arms, appearing large and fearless, throwing sticks and stones may also detur a mountain lion as they are not usually agressive and are mostly looking for easy prey. Now I live in NY so not much chance of me needing this info around here (however, a few months ago a mountain lion was killed in Conneticut, not far from NYC), I do plan on exploring the Mid West, Southern desert States and the West Coast so I will take note. Enjoy and be safe!!!