Posted on 08/28/2005 10:03:01 AM PDT by george76
"I won't let my children go to the tennis court by themselves anymore,"...She does not permit the boys, ages 9 and 11, to walk to the pool on their own, either. Her parents live in a home on her property, but "they're terrified."
"Except to come to my house," she said, "they never go outside."
They are hardly the only ones in the area feeling like prisoners in multimillion-dollar homes.
"It's a beautiful animal, but mountain lions don't belong in our neighborhood,"..."The answer is to take them out."
Mr. Lane said he would do the deed himself if it were not against the law. Except in emergencies, the California Department of Fish and Game must approve the killing of mountain lions, which were given special protection by voters in 1990.
Despite assertions by the police and wildlife experts, Mr. Thomas says residents in his part of Atherton have reported 40 sightings in the last year.
"I try to make everyone in authority aware of the problem here, but I guess no one is going to take us seriously until a child is attacked," said Mr. Thomas, the father of three teenage boys.
Mr. Thomas's tools include a 10-million-candlepower spotlight that can illuminate his backyard like a Wal-Mart parking lot; a military-issue device that amplifies sound by a factor of 10; and a half-dozen Gen 3 Night Vision Scopes, which would outline a cougar in green if he ever spotted one.
But his most effective weapon is the computer he uses to send e-mail alerts to those living in what he dubs his "sector." The electronic missives, long and chatty, report in great detail on every sighting reported to him by neighbors and include references to, say, the speed with which this "apex predator" could kill a child.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Pathetic.
No wonder the cave criminals think they can defeat the west.
We lost a lot of precious cats to mountain lions when I was growing up. Our house bordered a canyon.
I know the fear these people fear.
It's the eco-wackos, who won't let us get rid of these predators.
Given the amount of antipathy in this particular community, I doubt anyone who actually did thin the predator population would get reported.
Just remember the three "S"'s.
Just damn!
Mr. Thomas sounds like a 54 year old rich man with too much time on his hands. Reading the article, he struck me as a kook.
Maybe, he should try some charity work, instead of spending his time on mountain lions, who have never attacked anyone in silicon valley.
An initiative passed by dumb@$$ bleeding heart liberal voters in places like Santa Monica, who NEVER have to deal with cougar depredations, but who are willing to people in rural and mountain areas of California subjected to it.
Just remember the three "S"'s.
It's the last S that usually gets a person in trouble.
There are literally dozens of calibers and gauges that would eliminate the problem much faster than beating a mountain lion over the head with a computer.
Shoot, Shovel and Shut-up.
So let's feed the eco-wackos to the cougars. It would be a privilege for them and a boon to the inhabitants.
Little did they know. The big cats have been seen on the Bay side of El Camino Real. They come down in late summer and early fall for water, cooler temperatures, and food.
Years ago, the ranchers above town in the area kept the cat population under control, killing those cats that strayed into what was effectively an urban buffer zone. No more. Urban voters empowered environmental regulatory agencies to pressure ranchers out of business and sell at a deep discount to the Mid Peninsula Open Space District, which charges cleaning ladies and gardeners in their rent to subsidize astro-dollar properties adjoining their homes, what are effectively tax-subsidized private parks for a few well-connected upscale developers.
Now the agencies have grown so powerful they no longer need the urban voter and this is what we see. This is what a socialized commons can do.
The answer is private property: private roads, private parks, private game management, and private habitat reserves accountable for what their escaped animals might do. Until then, this kind of political stupidity is going to get worse, a LOT worse.
We've had a cougar sited round my place two weeks ago. Dogs are barking very early in morning and I am wondering whether it is the cat. My hair stands on end if I have to go out with a flashlight to change a hose or empty garbage. People shouldn't have to live in physical fear. We need to control the cougar populations.
Maybe, he should try some charity work, instead of spending his time on mountain lions, who have never attacked anyone in silicon valley.
Well, he certainly sounds like a gadget freak with the high power floodlight and the night vision, and he seems a bit obsessed with forwarding all the Mountain Lion sightings.
Have the muntain lions in California ever attacked anyone? Seems I did read about a jogger being attacked a while back.
Are children alone or in pairs at risk at being jumped in the absence of available stray cats and dogs?
Need to go back to the rules of the 50s!
The mountain lion bounty in California was $90/male $110/female, problem solved!
I can think of three attacks in the last few years off the top of my head. The point is: as a child, I used to be able to enjoy the woods on my own. That FREEDOM has been denied this generation to serve the interests of pompous asses who don't do a damned thing to care for nature.
Frankly, I think an auction for tags might bring in more money, especially adjoining urban areas.
Unionized government hunters, with fat paychecks, fringes, and pensions now kill more cats than hunters who PAID for the privilege used to kill.
"It's a beautiful animal, but mountain lions don't belong in our neighborhood,"
They were here before you were.
I f you don't want them in your backyard, don't live there.
My brother lives in Anchorage, and regularly gets bear and moose in his yard. It's what you get, when you live there.
(Having said that, the no-shoot rule is insanity, of the kind you only find here in CA. We have lots of dangerous critters, coyotes, scorpions, rattlesnakes...rules and laws don't stop them from being what they are.)
Or perhaps it's Thomas who doesn't belong in the big cats' livingroom.
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