Free Republic

HOLLISTER The county agriculture commissioner supports reinstatement of a long-absent mountain lion count and plans to request that supervisors endorse a letter to the state fish and game department encouraging California leaders to reconsider it. San Benito County Agriculture Commissioner Paul Matulich believes the state should reestablish a count because "nothing's been done since 1988" and there are concerns related to public safety, livestock security and a declining deer population. He plans to present the county board with a letter requesting a reinstatement to the lion count at its meeting May 26. Fish and game stopped conducting official cougar counts...

When a Corvallis teen came upon a cougar mauling a house cat on Northwest Sundance Circle last month, he probably didn't think, "Well, here's an Oregon success story." Once hunted nearly to extinction in Oregon, the big cats, which inspire awe in some and fear in others, are thriving today. And that presents its own problems. As their numbers increase, so do the chances for encounters such as the one at Sundance Circle. The state has responded by increasing the killing of cougars to reduce the threat, whether real or perceived, to livestock, game herds, people and their pets....

Dog owner William Morse, his wife Kandy and their dog Hogie were out for a walk along a trail in the Cleveland National Forest Tuesday when "out of nowhere a mountain lion just charged us, attacked us, and my dog saved our life, saved me and my wife's life." The black shepherd-mix dog, named Hogie, was severely injured in Tuesday's noon incident but was expected to recover following surgery at a Riverside County veterinary hospital. On Wednesday, state officials with the California Department of Fish and Game released statements that contradicted Morse’s accounts. In the new scenarios, Hogie was the...

    When a local couple heard their cats outside crying at about 2 o'clock on Tuesday morning, they thought it was probably a dog bothering their cats, but it wasn't. They were completely shocked at what they found in their yard. A huge mountain lion had made its way into the enclosure in which their cats were kept. The three cats didn’t stand a chance. The couple, who live near Crestline Video, asked not to be identified. They are heartbroken and in shock. “The mountain lion was probably 3-and-a-half to four feet long,” the woman said. “It looked...

A mountain lion attacked and nearly killed a dog that defended its owners Tuesday on a trail in the Santa Ana Mountains. The dog was severely mauled in the stomach area and rushed to a veterinary hospital for surgery, according to Orange County sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino. The 5-year-old black Labrador mix named Hoagie underwent a four-hour operation and was expected to survive, he said. William Morse was hiking with his wife near a campground in the Cleveland National Forest, about 10 miles from Lake Elsinore, when a 120-pound mountain lion approached. "Out of nowhere, a mountain lion just charged...

A cougar lounging in the courtyard of a rural Santa Fe-area home ... Game warden Desi Ortiz says the animal showed no fear... He hit the 100-pound female mountain lion in the hind leg with a tranquilizer, and she jumped over the courtyard wall and disappeared. He got a call a short time later about a cougar staggering into the courtyard of another nearby home.

A mountain lion was tranquilized and relocated by the state Division of Wildlife after killing a small dog in Boulder's Highland Park ... The lion killed a "white, fluffy dog" ... Division of Wildlife spokeswoman Jennifer Churchill said the lion, a 10-month-old male, was moved to a remote location. She said the lion had previously been tagged ... On Sunday, part of a Chautauqua Park trail was closed after hikers spotted a mountain lion in the trees...

A couple from Montana were riding the range, he with his rifle and she (fortunately) with her camera. Their dogs always followed them, but on this occasion, a Mountain Lion decided he wanted to stalk the dogs (you'll see the dogs in the background watching). Very, very bad decision. The hunter got off the mule with his rifle and decided to shoot in the air to scare away the lion, but before he could get off a shot, the lion charged in and decided he wanted a piece of those dogs. With that, the mule took off and decided HE...

SPOONER (AP) - There's been no sign of the mountain lion that game managers in northwestern Wisconsin tried to capture and collar last week. The mountain lion was photographed in a tree in the area of Washburn and Burnett counties west of Spooner before it crawled down and ran away. Jim Bishop of the state Department of Natural Resources said the animal is believed to be alive but may have left the area, or even headed to Minnesota. DNR personnel used some fresh snow to search for signs of the big cat on March 11. But wildlife biologist supervisor Ken...

Near a northwest Boulder home early Tuesday, wildlife officers fired non-lethal bean bags at an adult mountain lion that was feeding on a deer carcass -- adding to the growing list of sightings and animal attacks in the neighborhood in recent weeks. A woman had her Jack Russell terrier taken by a lion Dec. 24 outside her home ... residents down the road have reported a family of lions drinking at their backyard pond; and Colorado Division of Wildlife officers have fielded several reports of sightings in the neighborhood. Tuesday, they found two animal carcasses within a few blocks. "People...

Colorado Division of Wildlife officers are searching the Boulder area for a mountain lion that grabbed a couple's Jack Russell Terrier late Christmas Eve outside their home ... The owner had stepped outside with the small dog about 11 p.m. to take some garbage to the alley and told wildlife officers that she "got a creepy feeling," division spokeswoman Jennifer Churchill said. The woman ran back indoors, Churchill said, and accidentally left her dog outside. When the woman realized her pet wasn't with her, she got in her car, where she felt safer, and drove back into the alley with...

After letting their small dog out at 4 A.M. for a quick bathroom request, neighbors found their small dog had been attacked by a mountain lion or fox, but had escaped and managed to return to their back door. The dog required over 40 stitches but survived and no one could figure out how until a day or two later when the carcass of a fox was found a few hundred feet further back from the house. The fox had obviously been the meal of a mountain lion. The scenario then became clear. The fox had the dog until the...

When Scott Nobles returned home from tending to a sick horse, he and his fiancée were shocked to find one of the couple’s dogs badly hurt and bleeding, and the other dead. “I called the cops because I thought someone had shot my dog in the head, that’s how bad the damage was,” said Nobles, a deputy with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Apple Valley station. He soon learned it was not a human that attacked his dogs. The attack took place... inside the couple’s back yard. “We heard the puppies whining and crying, but we couldn’t find the other...

Early last week a mountain lion snatched a family’s dog from their yard and killed it...in the Village of Oak Creek. The dog, approximately 12 pounds, was in the yard with the family’s other two dogs when the mountain lion attacked... Arizona Game and Fish Spokesman Zenon Mocarski said a game warden was called to the scene and determined the attacking animal was in fact a mountain lion. “It’s pretty easy to distinguish between a mountain lion and a coyote,” ... Since the attack... neighbor came over and told her to keep her children inside because the mountain lion was...

It was self defense. That’s what game and fish officials determined after a hunter shot a mountain lion north of Cokeville earlier this month. Adam Lancaster of Afton told the Wyoming game warden that he and his father were dressing out a buck mule deer they had killed when the lion moved in. Game and Fish officials say the lion was a sub-adult female apparently attracted by the smell of fresh meat – but they quickly add that such aggressive behavior toward humans is extremely rare. Lancaster told the warden the incident was over in seconds. The hunters left the...

One day last October, Eric York lugged the carcass of an adult mountain lion from his truck and laid it carefully on a tarp on the floor of his garage. The female mountain lion had a bloody nose, but her hide bore no other signs of trauma. York, a biologist at Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona, found the big cat lying motionless near the canyon’s South Rim. He was determined to learn why she died. Because the park lacks a forensics lab, he did the postmortem in his garage, in a village of about 2,000 park employees. Epidemic experts...

A mountain lion is chased up a tree in downtown Palo Alto. Another one is shot after mauling a Chihuahua at a Watsonville mobile home park. In Los Gatos, a lion hits a car while trying to cross Summit Road. Peninsula and Silicon Valley residents rarely ponder the lives of mountain lions trying to survive in the Santa Cruz Mountains. But urban development — the razing of habitat for homes, roads and parking lots — is the chief obstacle the wild cats face every day as they hunt for deer and fulfill their instinct to roam hundreds of miles, looking...

An animal tracker hired by city officials was heading into Foothills Park in Palo Alto tonight to hunt down and kill a mountain lion that attacked a man over the weekend, authorities said. Foothills Park and the adjacent Pearson-Arastradero Preserve were closed today after officials learned of the incident, the first known mountain lion attack in Palo Alto, said Palo Alto Police Agent Dan Ryan. The 50-year-old hiker was uninjured but narrowly escaped with his life after the cat leaped onto him from behind about 4 p.m. Saturday, sending man and beast tumbling down an embankment, Ryan said. The Portola...

People in the Silver City/Pinos Altos, New Mexico, vicinity are nervously looking over their shoulders these days, fearing they may be the next meal for a mountain lion prowling the area... On Friday, the body of Robert Nowojski, 55, was found about 75 yards from his Pinos Altos home, severely mauled and partly fed upon. The animal would not leave until Game and Fish officers shot at it. Although not yet confirmed with an autopsy, authorities suspect the lion is responsible for the fatal attack. Hunters with hounds are now tracking the animal. Several people reported sightings of the mountain...

Wyoming officials confirm fifth case of plague found in mountain lions Friday, June 6, 2008 4:51 PM MDT Mountain lion hunters, the owners of domestic cats and others who may come in contact with mountain lions in Wyoming and other Western states are urged to protect themselves and their animals against plague. “Plague was confirmed in a mountain lion found dead in mid-April by a landowner in rural Johnson County,” said Todd Cornish, an associate professor in the University of Wyoming College of Agriculture's Department of Veterinary Sciences. Cornish said this is the fifth case of plague confirmed in mountain...