Comments on: Young mountain lion shot in Pleasanton

By: Barbara

Barbara — Fri, 24 Nov 2006 04:39:20 +0000

San Luis Obispo police officers & sherrifs dept shot, 5 times, and killed a 2 yr old female mountain lion found downtown. She was startled out of hiding by an early morning street sweeper. The lion was scared, ran at a glass window. Once dazed the officer decided to kill it. Yes the officers are trigger happy. They couldn’t wait 10 minutes for the fish & game warden. Nor are the police ever equipped or trained to deal with mountain lions. We need to fit in with nature. Not make nature fit in with us. Can’t fight nature!

By: Verna Knox

Verna Knox — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 14:40:37 +0000

Since when are animals more important than our children?
Yes, as our population grows there is less room for wildlife, but on the other hand, we have so protected the wildlife, that nature itself no longer controls the population of these lovely creatures.

I am an animal lover, but I’m a mom and grandma first.

By: Pat in Antioch

Pat in Antioch — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 03:04:28 +0000

I can see where a wildcat in a populated area could be dangerous, but I can also see where (in a lot of cases) these populated areas used to belong to the wild, or these cats have been driven from their homes because of development. I have a hard time with the whole thing; the vision (a “few wildcats ago”) of the scared cat peering out from behind the bush he was hiding in as the officer prepared to shoot him, still leaves me feeling sad and that we’ve somehow let these creatures down. Is there a better way? Probably, but as long as we continue as we are (GROWTH, GROWTH, GROWTH) I have no idea what it is.

By: Ric Curtice

Ric Curtice — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 01:07:47 +0000

Changing Perceptions and Finding Humane Solutions
Perhaps the greatest challenge that we face in fighting cruelty to wild animals is changing the way people perceive wildlife. Each year, millions of wild animals are killed because they are considered pests. Beavers, bats, geese, deer, pigeons, mice, snakes, and squirrels are some of the animals who often suffer horrific deaths because some people consider them a nuisance, but the list also includes wild horses, rabbits, prairie dogs, owls, wolves, bears, eagles, and mountain lions.
As alarming proportions of their homelands are lost to development, wild animals are forced to live in closer proximity to humans. With few places to go, they enter our homes, parks, golf courses, and urban areas desperately searching for food and shelter. Tragically, what they soon encounter are callous humans intent on killing them with poisons, traps, and countless other cruel methods.

Despite promises of harmless removal and relocation, what pest control companies and commercial trappers frequently do is just the opposite as PETA’s cruelty caseworkers have seen time and again. Coots, ducks, and geese are secretly shot, gassed, and even bludgeoned to death with baseball bats; beavers are caught and drowned in body-gripping traps or are sealed up alive in their own homes; and animals of all kinds are simply left to die from injuries or starvation. Even well-intentioned local animal control agents are often inadequately trained and unprepared to deal with Bears and Mountain Lion emergencies humanely.

Ending such cruelty is a complex and long-term challenge. But that has not kept PETA’s Domestic Animal and Wildlife Rescue & Information Department (DAWR&I) from working day and night to change the way wild animals are treated. Every day, DAWR&I’s wildlife experts, cruelty investigators, and rescue staff work closely with homeowners, business managers, and municipal officials to develop effective programs that resolve conflicts between humans and wildlife without the use of cruel methods.

An important focus of their work is to combat the fears with the facts. Some in the animal control industry rely on public ignorance to drive their business and to get away with inhumane methods, exploiting myths that nuisance animals are dangerous, dirty, and carriers of disease. So PETA has created this free and informative Web site debunking the myths and offering humane alternatives to cruel wildlife control methods. Through PETAs hard work and persistence, more people are turning first to humane alternatives to shooting deaths for control, which means that thousands of animals have been and will be saved from this often overlooked and unreported cruelty.

http://www.helpinganimals.com

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By: Birderman

Birderman — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 23:45:54 +0000

This bog story is different than being reported else where. Other news sites are reporting that Pleasanton Police shot the cat. Also being reported is that Pleasanton ploice are not taking calls regarding the shoting.
I personally admire the free rooming cats.
There will more big cats following the stream beds into urban areas.
Nature you know flows.
There has to be a better way than simply killing the cat. Unfortanately now days the police simply want to kill.They use their guns in a show of control towards anything they don’t understand or that doesn’t look like them.
They would never think of moving the chrilden from the park. They would never think of shoting a tranqulizer into the cat.
Their reason is a canned pitched statement that each city police department uses.

By: GG

GG — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 00:26:24 +0000

This is such a shame, and I understand why the warden felt it had to be done, but it bothers me when these shootings are justified by, for example, “a park with playing children.”

Children are too big and noisy to be targets of attack, especially for a 60 lb. “teenage” animal. The ones that truly need to be protected are our “fur” children — a cat or dog in a fenced backyard, with no means of escape, would make a very easy meal for a hungry lion.

Our pets are certainly worthy of protection, so in the end the decision was the right one, but I think it just stokes the public’s unreasonable fears to keep implying that a mountain lion might cause a fatal injury to a human child. It’s just not going to happen.