Big Kitty

[Arne]

Yesterday morning in Kearney, Nebr. there was a cat hunt. A mountain lion was roaming the streets of town. They finally put it down. Took 2 game wardens and a police officer to carry it to the truck. Now a uproar they shouldn't have killed it. My thoughts, a small child crying sounds just like a hurt wild animal. A cat this size would not even hesitate taking a kid. It did not belong in town. It has only been a couple of years since the game and parks admitted we might have a mountain lion in Nebraska. There have been sightings for years and people have been told they have seen a coyote or some other critter. Anyway, in the other states that claim they do not have lions and people claim to have seen them maybe they really do. Arne.

 

[Runningwolf]

Arne, you are so right about this. They do now want folks to know what is really out there. I believe it was Grapemen that had tracks in his vineyard a year or two ago. I'm sure he'll tell his story as it was quiet interesting. I think they even have a name for not admitting certain wildlife really does reside there.

 

[Dugger]

Same thing here in Nova Scotia - the eastern cougar is not supposed to exist here, but many, many sightings - I have seen 3 myself over the years. Strangely, they are a protected species here, although they don't exist!!

 

[midwestwine]

Arne, I have land on the Missouri river right by Crofton,Ne and we see Mountain lion tracks all the time.

 

[ibglowin]

Wonder why they didn't try to trap or tranq the big guy then remote him way out of town?

They do that around these parts all the time. Esp with the black bears. This is going to be a bad one as we have had no precip this Winter to speak of so not much in the way of food to eat. Here is a pic from the local paper a few weeks back of a little guy looking for something to eat. They did not shoot him!

 

[closetwine]

Around here they trap the trouble makers, tag and relocate them... If the get caught again, they get put down. That goes for bears, cats, ect...

 

[mmadmikes1]

You have way more to fear from Neighbors dog or car.Over 300 people have been killed by domestic dogs in the U.S. between 1979 and the late 1990s.
I have tracks 3 feet off my deck at pond where the deer drink all the time.

Cougars like food that does not fight back, that's why they don't go after wolves
If you see a Mountain Lion, he has seen you 12 times before.

2/3 of all the deaths and attacks in North America happen on Vancouver Island in BC

A scientific review of records on attacks by cougars on humans in the United States and Canada from 1890 through 1990 indicated there were 53 cougar attacks on humans during this period. There were nine attacks that resulted in 10 human deaths, and 44 non-fatal attacks.

Year U.S.A. and Canada
# of Attacks # of Deaths
1991 4 2
1992 4 1
1993 3 0
1994 9 2
1995 3 0
1996 6 1
1997 7 1
1998 9 0
1999 6 1
2000 8 0
2001 7 1
2002 5 0
2003 2 1

total 73 10
Average per year 5.6 0.8
that is 20 deaths in 100 years.; I bet more people died choking on bread
I do believe it is an unrealistic fear you are all feeling. I live with cougars,bears and Bobcats. Myself, my children, and my pets are all fine

That is one young cat in that picture and without fear of humans his days are numbered

 

[ibglowin]

They trap and remove to remote location (of which we have many!) in our area. Rarely do they ever find their way back. Down in ABQ they also trap but have been known to shoot a few that have returned. People around these parts just kinda figure it comes with the territory. After all they were pretty much here before we moved in so they try hard to keep everybody happy (and alive)......

 

[ibglowin]

Oh and they have had like 6 serious Pit Bull attacks down in ABQ in the last 2 months. Little kids and even a horse was mauled by one and the horse owner was able to run inside, get his gun, run back outside and kill the dog. Horse will live but he was torn up pretty good. Kid has like 68 stitches in his arm. Not a fan of that breed for sure. The owners always say they are soooo sweet, but you never know when instinct will kick in no matter how well they have been treated or brought up.

 

[Sirs]

Oh and they have had like 6 serious Pit Bull attacks down in ABQ in the last 2 months. Little kids and even a horse was mauled by one and the horse owner was able to run inside, get his gun, run back outside and kill the dog. Horse will live but he was torn up pretty good. Kid has like 68 stitches in his arm. Not a fan of that breed for sure. The owners always say they are soooo sweet, but you never know when instinct will kick in no matter how well they have been treated or brought up.

well I know mountain lions are fairly big and can seem really bad but 99% of the time you'll never see them they know to stay away from us. They probly should've trancquilized him and took him off like others said. Sorry to get off subject for a bit but I know dogs, dogs do as they are raisied to do. You raise them to attack anything they will you raise them to be couch potatoes they normally are dogs are like anything else they react to being hurt or being treated badly. It isn't the breed it's how it is raised 99% of the time

 

[Sirs]

I love 99% can you tell I like Ivory soap lol

 

[ibglowin]

You can make a Chihuahua attack if you treat it like crap/and or train it (small dog syndrome). Genes do pay a role (as they say you can't fight genetics) as well and some breeds are just more prone to attack than others.

 

[Runningwolf]

Chihuahua attack's have led to bigger measures.

 

[ibglowin]

Bwahahahahahahahaha!

 

[closetwine]

Pit bulls get a bad rap though... And that's because there are alot of bad breeders out there. Bad genes are a big problem. But a well-bred pit will only do as it's taught. They're territorial and protective. Mine would've killed someone who made a kid cry... but he was the friendliest dog ever... You have to treat them right.

There was a statistic a few years back... chihuahua's caused 10x more trips to the ER than any other breed. but Yeah I pit can do wayy more damage, and not every one should own one.

Back to the 'wild' animals... once relocated the cats usually don't com back. It's the black bears coumming out of the mountains starving in the summers... they always come back. We had 9 one year that lived in our backyard... Dad fed them (he regrets it now.) but all they wanted was food. Some even learned to obey commands. All of them knew what go back in the pasture and dinner time meant. We had no probs. and lots of visitors. Wildlife Dept. knowingly turned a blind eye because no one wanted to see them put down. But none of them ever broke into the house or messed with the livestock...

 

[mmadmikes1]

I have never heard of a bear killing livestock. My grandfather had coyotes kill a couple of calves. Now a couger will take a small cow if it gets a chance. Having a couger in a vineyard I see as a good thing. They will eat a ton of moles and other rodents. Not to mention scaring away birds

 

[Arne]

This is hearsay, but the lady whose yard it was in when it was put down says all the people that are complaining about it around here did not have it in their yard. The tranqualizer thing, it was reported there is one gun in the area. It has to be accompanied by a licenced veternairan in order to be used. The police used what they thought was the best tool they had on hand. I do not know what they considered the area where the tranqualizer was. Relocating around here is really not an option. It is most all cropland. Not a lot of out of the way places. The cat probably came out of the Platte river bottom. That is where Kearney is located. Not a lot of wooly bully land there, but I would put money on there are more cats around. We have had sightings of them around my little town here too. I have not seen one, but bet I have been close to them. A couple of years ago there was one sighted close to the land i bowhunt on. I saw very few deer that year, and I think he was staying around the creek that runs thru there. Most years there are lots of does and yearlings around, that year it was almost a treat to see one. Enough ranting, Arne.

 

[Wade E]

My brothyers best friend has a lot of woods in back of his house and spotted lots of Cat trails. Some decent sized animals wre being killed back there so he decided to mount a tree cam with some bait in front of it. He told the town previosly abaout big animals getting killed back there and they stated nothing that ig is around here. He caught a good size cougar or something like that (cant remember what it was) and he took the tape to them to show them.

 

[ibglowin]

There is always two sides to the story and differing opinions on how to handle a situation. The Mountain Lion is higher in the food chain for sure!

 

[ibglowin]

Here is how they handled a Mountain Lion in downtown El Paso, TX yesterday.