Quote:
Originally posted by fivefootone:
Kevin, the mountain lions haven't invaded suburban backyards;sububurbia has invaded the mountain lion's backyard, the same way that oil pipelines do in the northern wilderness refuges of wolves, brown bears, caribou, and many other species. Migration routes and breeding and hunting territories are lost or changed. The animals pay the price. It's a lose lose situation.
I agree though that there is often nothing else to be done besides killing the animal when it endangers the public. We are running out of places to relocate them.
Donna
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With the mountain lions in California, most of the suburbs that are having the mountain lions are rather old and long established, not new ones tossed into virgin wilderness (though there are those too). What's actually happened is that conservation has worked and the mountain lions have rebounded, but in so doing, younger ones go off in search of fresh territory without other mountain lions and instead find greater threats. It was rather surreal to watch the local newscast where the reporter in Palo Alto was talking about the search for the mountain lion that had been spotted but the police and animal control had been unable to find until suddenly she looked up and found it herself in the tree over her head, asleep.
Unfortunately they don't make tranks that work like on Mutual of Omaha, so the police sharpshooter had to take it out.
Anyway, I think California has struck the right balance, with the police and animal control able to deal with them, but with trophy hunters not allowed to go near them.