Love Affair with Predators
Compare the two stories below and see what your conclusions are; mine are at the bottom.
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CASPER, Wyo. – A police officer didn’t think much of a call to shoo off a bothersome “kitty cat” at a home in Casper, Wyo. Then the officer arrived at the home of Beverly Hood. It was no ordinary domestic feline — but a male mountain lion weighing 80 to 90 pounds.
Officer Mike Ableman says he ran for cover inside Hood’s home when he saw the cougar.Hood says she was inside when she first saw the mountain lion lying on her porch Monday. Hood says the lion hissed at her, but she wasn’t scared.
She called 911, animal control and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. Hood reported that she had a bothersome “big cat.” A dispatcher told Ableman that it was a house cat.
A game warden tranquilized the mountain lion and the animal was relocated.
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Deer project starts off with 13 caught, killed
Associated Press – September 23, 2008 10:55 AM ET
HELENA, Mont. (AP) – Helena police trapped and killed 13 mule deer in four days last week, as part of a pilot project to reduce the number of deer within city limits.
Chief Troy McGee says the last of the carcasses were taken to a meat processer on Monday.
All of the venison is being given to Helena Food Share for distribution. The food bank is paying for the processing.
The pilot project aims to cut the city’s growing deer herd by 50 animals over the course of several weeks. Officers began the nighttime work last week, baiting a half-dozen box traps with apples and a mix of grains and molasses.
Officers kill the deer with a bolt gun, which uses a blank cartridge to fire a cylinder into the deer’s brain. It does not fire a projectile.
Information from: Independent Record, http://www.helenair.com
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To me, a hissing male mountain lion on my front porch constitutes a threat – much more so than mule deer eating my shrubs. In my opinion, the mule deer in Helena should be relocated and the mountain lion shot on the spot. Modern-day priorities seem to exibit a love affair between agencies and predators. It is almost as bad to kill a predator as it is to cut down a pine tree.
Man that makes me good and angry! That’s just flat ridiculous – the lino should have been killed and the deer should have been relocated or something. No way do we kill deer because they’re chomping on some rose bushes and then relocate a mountain lion as it poses a serious threat to human – not to mention what it’ll continue to do to the deer population. I went deer hunting with a rifle for the first time in four years this year – I expected to hold out for a big buck because I was rifle hunting and I figured I’d get a crack at one. Instead, in two full days of hiking (really full days of hiking – I covered close to 20 miles each day) I came across 7 does, no bucks, and 12 deer carcasses. I never saw a single lion or coyote, but the carcasses are indisputable evidence of there having been there. I packed up and headed to another area where I knew there was a lot of deer and ended up shooting a small buck to fill the freezer. I couldn’t believe the devastation of the first area, though. It was incredible. All the hunters I talked to were saying they hadn’t seen many deer. I saw several people carrying dead heads – so I wasn’t the only one finding carcasses, either.