Posted on 06/15/2004 9:58:30 AM PDT by AAABEST
Between Man And Lion There Can Be No Compact" - Homer
For most of their history, extinct and living humans have represented little more than a vulnerable, slow moving, bipedal source of protein for big cats.," Julian Kerbis Peterhans Author's note: The Professor is talking about unarmed humans.
The first quote is from the Homeric Period of Ancient Greece. The second is contemporary, as associate professor Peterhans is presently teaching Natural Science at Roosevelt University, and is an adjunct curator at the Field Museum in Chicago. Throughout at least three thousand years of man's history, it was well known that large cats ate men, as well as their livestock.
But enviro-socialists in government agencies, and their fellow travelers in the non-governmental organizations (NGOs), have taken the bizarre position that such cats can be subjected to "aversive conditioning" and, miraculously, be made safe to have in your neighborhood.
Those who believe in recreating an Eden where man and lion peacefully co-exist seem to have forgotten that Eden was created with powers rather greater than theirs.
The photographs in this article are still frames from the video I took of that FWC's panther attacking the 15th goat. The goat's cries belie the supposed "Everglades Eden" where lions act other than like lions.
Here in Florida, these "panther profiteers" have discovered that by calling the "Florida Panther" an endangered species they can create a cash cow. Forget about the dewy-eyed, rosy-cheeked, milkmaids of the past - these are hard-eyed opportunists, willing to destroy livelihoods, and even human lives, to keep on milking the "Endangered Species Act" cash cow.
They have spent somewhere between $500,000,000 and $1,000,000,000 of your money on an animal, the "Florida Panther", which they have loudly proclaimed to be endangered. It isn't. The DNA data shows that all panther living north of Nicaragua are "genetically homogeneous" - which is scientific-speak for "same species." What is endangered is their agency cash flow.
A few nights ago, I went to a campground owned by the Shealy brothers, Jack and David. Their business is located on the Tamiami Trail (US 41) slightly east of Ochopee, Florida. Jack told me that he had lost 14 pet goats to a panther. He also lost two Australian emus. The Florida Wildlife Commission (FWC) and Debbie Jansen from National Park Service, had been to his campground, verified the deaths, and agreed that a panther had killed his animals.
They refused any compensation for the animals killed by their cat. They stated that they were not required to pay for such losses, even though it was their cat. The AgencyPersons were lying, of course. They were required to pay for such damages, and they knew it.
They were also adamant that they would not remove the panther.
This was the situation when I set up a video camera, because I was sure that the panther would return, and kill again. Sure enough, shortly after dark, the panther attacked the 15th goat. The pictures in this article are video frames from that video tape. The risk to any human attacked by a panther is obvious from the pictures.
The Shealy brothers had a two-day public event set for the approaching weekend, and they were worried about the panther. Jack weighs 220 pounds, and looks like an older Special Forces member, or a wrestler. Hardly a man that feared man or beast. He was surprised that the panther had attacked when I had predicted, as the attack occurred under two lights, alongside my RV, and near his back door.
After we had taken the goat out of the pasture, a few minutes later, we walked out of the rear of his building and the panther was back, 40 feet from my RV, licking the blood clots off the ground and looking for its "kill".
Seeing that there were two of us, it left. We talked for awhile, Jack went inside, and I went inside the RV to make a number of cell phone calls. After an hour on the cell phone, I realized that I had to leave that evening.
I climbed up the ladder at the rear of the RV to take down the 500-watt halogen light that I had set up to augment the light from the sodium vapor light on the pole where the goat had been attacked.
As I stepped onto the ground from the ladder, Jack came back out - this may have saved my life. I asked him to hold the large flashlight so that I could roll up the awning on the RV before I left. As I passed the light to him, I swept the tree line, some 60 yards away.
At the end of the tree line, a huge pair of green eyes were reflecting the spotlight back. The panther eyes were close to the ground, not a couple of feet off the ground where the panther head would be if it were walking. The panther had been stalking me as I was on the roof of the RV!
Jack was now aware that he was at risk from the panther. Not only had the panther returned after attacking the goat, it had come back again, and had been stalking me. True, the tree line was 60 yards away, but that is less than ten, possibly as little as six bounds for an attacking panther. And the goat had been attacked less than 12 yards from my RV.
There is something profoundly wrong in America when bureau-scientists can quarter large bodied predators on citizen's lands. We fought King George for merely quartering troops, not predatory animals on our ancestor's lands. History aside, there is something even more wrong when a man the size of Jack can be forced to accept such beasts - he admitted "Now, I'm scared." So was I.
I rolled up the awning, and watched as Jack went back into the building with the spotlight I had loaned him. He felt that the cat might return. I knew it would.
The next day, I called Jack and he related a night of horror - as the cat came back, again and again. The FWC had told him that firecrackers would chase the cat away. Of course, they didn't. Only when Jack launched skyrockets at the cat, and the skyrocket exploded in the immediate vicinity of the cat, did the cat momentarily retreat. But it kept coming back. Did it want Jack, or his animals? Does it matter?
Here is where things get interesting. About a week or so earlier, The Miccossukee Indians asked that a panther be removed from an area of Federal land they use for a religious practice once a year. The cat's presence was perceived as a threat. No animals had been killed, and no person had been stalked. But the cat's repeated presence was perceived (correctly, I believe) as a threat to human health and safety. The FWC removed the cat immediately. But the FWC refused to remove three cats in Pinecrest that were more brazenly fearless of humans than the behavior of the lion which the FWC removed for the Indians
The FWC publicity officer, Mr. Cabbage, had issued a statement that made clear that the removal of the panther threatening the Indians would not set a precedent.
He was lying, of course.
The FWC had previously released their Texas panthers in two areas of Florida and had removed them when the panthers turned out to act like panthers - they ate whatever they wanted, presented a threat to humans, mothers feared for their children, etc.
But the FWC refused to remove the panther which was a proven, not just a perceived threat to Jack Shealy, his pets, livestock, and the visitors and residents at his campground on his private property.
The FWC refused Jack the protection they provided to the Indians. Whether this is merely stupidity in action, a sort of "politically correct" racism, or an attempt to hold on to a failed project to the very last paycheck, we may never know. Frankly, I don't care. The Governor should shut down the panther program at once, and fire all participants.
Panther had been removed by the FWC several times before, and Mr. Cabbage and all the agency people knew it. In the past instances where panther proved to be dangerous, those panther which were removed were kept by the FWC and could be "re-introduced" in another part of Florida. Now, the FWC is out of places to put the cats.
Reality was catching up to the "panther profiteers." The cats' range requirements are so large, and their behavior so dangerous, that they simply can't be tolerated in Florida.
The bureaucrats are desperate, because if they have to remove the Texas cats from the Everglades, there is no other place in Florida to play "re-introduction" games, and their funds will stop.
Please remember that the FWC brought into Florida some Texas panthers, bred a batch of these cats, and released them as "endangered Florida Panthers." They created this problem as a way to tap into the Endangered Species Act, Section Six cooperative agreement funds.
The behavior of these bureaucrats is recklessly endangering both property and lives. Continuation of the "Florida Panther" re-introduction program poses significant risks to public safety and health.
All that has to happen to stop this madness is for the State of Florida to withdraw from the Section Six cooperative agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The FWC Commissioners can so do with a simple vote to withdraw from the cooperative agreement. We're waiting, Commissioners.
Let's pray that the State can find the courage to withdraw, before someone is chewed and slashed to ribbons or killed by a panther.
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Jan Michael Jacobson is the Director of the Everglades Institute.
The original cats (which haven't existed for decades) were the same species as the western cougar/mountain lion. Those cats eventually bred with other South American cats that escaped from a handler.
Eventually this corrupted species started to inbreed and have deformed young, at which time those with a dubious agenda decided to bring in larger and more agressive Texas cats, further corrupting the breed in an attempt play God and reinvigorate the species.
Now we're spending millions on these useless cats, while placing draconian restrictions on private property.
ping
BTTT!!!!!!
If it came in my yard, it would commit suicide. Those big cats are bad to do that. Very depressed.
shoot, shovel, shut up.
99 out of 100 don't know jack about private property. And what they do know is wrong. Here, a bear was shot out of a tree a couple weeks ago. The bear was under the control of the state, it had transmitters and tags and had just been relocated not for the first time. It was on a guy's property, and the guy shot it. He wouldn't have been allowed to keep the pelt or the rest of the carcass since he didn't have a bear tag nor was this the season. But his decrepit 15 year old dog gets to lay in the shade on yet another summer day. Life is good.
Well, I'm not going to waste the image ...
Panthers on the Prowl ... 
Jack told me that he had lost 14 pet goats to a panther.
At what point will this guy realize that pet goats are a bad idea in his neighborhood?
If you can videotape it you can shoot it.
Kill the damn thing and burn the carcass.
Screw the law if it endangers you or your family. It's an animal, it's rights stop at the maximum effective range of my weapon.
I agree with you. Endangered species because its too stupid to aviod man.
Why is this even an issue? I love big cats, but anything that tries to eat me or mine is going to die, period. Floridians, follow the three-step Texas Plan: Shoot, shovel, shut up.
I advise practicing the 3 S's: shoot, shovel, and shut up.
He was baiting a field for panthers
Clearly a common sentiment.
The school playground has shut down. The neighborhood put up a monument to the dead cat. Hate mail keeps flowing in to the Fish & Game offals.
I saw a news report showing a woman who'd had a cat in her garage. F&G darted it and released it into an area that is sure to be overpopulated with other cats. The homeowner has an eleven year old kid. She was talking about kitty as if all this was no big deal. Her comment to the newsweasel, "The cat looked scared." These people are too stupid to know fear and don't care about their kids.
Better yet, call the FWC representatives to stop by about 10pm next to the woods.
LEV 26:22 I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your high ways shall be desolate.
How islamic.
Who said the goats were pets?
Ummm… the pet owner, as the quote I highlighted clearly shows.
Do you think people should only be allowed what the government permits?
No. Why would ask such a stupid irrelevant question?
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