"... Cougar attacks are like being struck by lightning ..."

From NOAA: Four hundred people get struck by lightning every year. Between 1997 and 2006, 437 people in the United States died from lightning strikes.

Perhaps a different simile would be better?

And the difference between rare and never can be terminal.

What about carrying one of those smallish airhorns instead of (or in addition to) pepper spray? You could conceivably use it even if your head was in a cougar's mouth.

How many people facing a predator remember to check which way the wind is blowing before they use their pepper spray, or have time to check? Finding yourself downwind of the pepper spray could incapacitate you more than the predator, and result more in a seasoning effect than a repellent effect.

As to the people in the link of the original post here, why were they wandering around, separated? It would seem that a cougar might be discouraged by a group of four.

A little more common sense might change 'rare' to 'never'.