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Yes, sometimes even the most well-meaning "no hunting laws" backfire dangerously. When an animal is at the top of the food chain, we are essentially it's only "natural" predator so proper game management dictates that a certain number of us under certain conditions need to control their population. We have cycles where this is a problem with wolves... we have a big rabbit year (warm summer or some reduction of another predator), the wolves overbreed, next year they start harassing the moose and sometimes cause problems with pets and livestock and then the bag limit for wolves increases and special predator control tags get issues. This I agree with proper management and control... not whooping wholesale sport hunting with a loaded rifle and a case of beer. Unfortunately a lot of states don't realize that you can have managed animal control, and that it isn't healthy for the animals or their prey species or us to protect them so much it lets them overpopulate.
Why wasn't it sedated and relocated? Drive her up to Yosemite and she'd likely never bother anyone again. Such a waste...
Ummmm, I think not. This solution certainly sounds so 'humane' and all Disney and such, but, this critter had decided that being around people was a free buffet. having had a few experiences with stock killing cats, the best way to settle the matter is to just line up the sights and let rip. Mountain lions are not an endangered critter, but they are quite dangerous, and getting all warm and fuzzy bout a cat will get you nothing but grief. Relocating this particular cat to a national park would have been a mistake of the highest order. In the babsence of barnyard fodder, it would have been a short leap for this cat to slobber over small children, which far to many city folk let wander, unwatched, in camping areas at places like Yosemite. Better to have done with it I'm afraid. The same rule applies to bears. Apex predators are not like problem racoon and such. They are designed, and are exeedingly good at, shopping for groceries with the assets nature gave them and they don't tend to be picky about what they put on the menu. All they require is opportunity, which they are fast to capitalize on.
Ummmm, I think not. This solution certainly sounds so 'humane' and all Disney and such, but, this critter had decided that being around people was a free buffet. having had a few experiences with stock killing cats, the best way to settle the matter is to just line up the sights and let rip. Mountain lions are not an endangered critter, but they are quite dangerous, and getting all warm and fuzzy bout a cat will get you nothing but grief. Relocating this particular cat to a national park would have been a mistake of the highest order. In the babsence of barnyard fodder, it would have been a short leap for this cat to slobber over small children, which far to many city folk let wander, unwatched, in camping areas at places like Yosemite. Better to have done with it I'm afraid. The same rule applies to bears. Apex predators are not like problem racoon and such. They are designed, and are exeedingly good at, shopping for groceries with the assets nature gave them and they don't tend to be picky about what they put on the menu. All they require is opportunity, which they are fast to capitalize on.
I agree with you NVplumber, this cat killed a goat in a fenced in lot next to a church run day car center. When the trapper came back at 4 pm and let his three dogs loose, they went for the eucalyptus tree over the partially buried dead goat. The hunter flushed it out of the tree and that is when it jumped the fence into my neighbors back yard. When we think back a few weeks, I had something scare the $%^# out of my chickens two nights in a row. I went out in my pj's with only a flashlight expecting a skunk or a fox. About a week ago my spouse thought he saw a pair of eyes glowing by the side gate as he was looking out the french doors. I am going to have a neighborhood watch meeting and ask if anyone has been missing cats or other small pets recently. My outdoor critters are caged up pretty tight. You cannot relocate a cat like a bear. Cats declare a specific territory and defend it, they do not share space with each other. And this year we have a low deer population and had an extended wet spring.
That was a close call! Glad no one was injured! Its lucky that very few pets were lost. We live in a rural area and have problems with mountian lions and bob cats. We occasionally have a young bear wander into the neighborhood. A friend of mine had her cat taken about a year ago. A friend of hers works for fish and game and came over to look at the tracks, they were mountian lion tracks. This friend lives just about in the center of town. She is surrounded by homes, so the lion was wandering the streets at night! My neighborhood is on the edge of town at the base of a mountian. We have a neighbor directly behind us and another to the side. But after that its just fields and the lions come down to get food. Our elementary school had a big incident about 8 years ago. A sick mountian lion was following some young students to school! Luckily adults saw this and the forest service, trackers, and the sheriff all showed up to handle it. The lion was in someone's backyard when they put it down around lunch time! It seems our lion problems come and go. We will have 2-3 years between incidents in town.
We do alot of outdoor activities. A few years ago we hiked down to an out of the way fishing spot. On our way back up the hill I heard something growling. We couldn't see anything which was the worst part. We left in a hurry. The next day the sheriff announced that a lion was spotted in the area we were in and that it was aggressive. In July we had a young lion stalking people on a popular bike trail in our area. Since our newspaper only comes out once a week, we were walking that trail after reports came in but didn't know about it until the following week. This year the deer have come into town much earlier then normal. They normally start to trickle in at the end of October. This year we had entire herds taking up residence in August. The lions follow the deer.
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