AR-News: (US-ID) Sightings of big cats on rise in city's parks, greenbelt

[jim robertson]

Sightings of big cats on rise in city's parks, greenbelt


Associated Press

File - Associated Press
A young cougar crouches in a box elder tree in July in Petersboro, Utah, 
after being chased by dogs. There have been no fatal attacks by cougars in 
Idaho since the 1800s, but other states in the West have had them.



BOISE _ It seems unlikely, but an increasing number of mountain lions have 
been spotted along Boise's famous greenbelt and in urban parks during the 
past few months.

On Monday, Gary Mountain was riding his bicycle on a path near the Boise 
River at lunchtime when he spotted a cougar crossing the greenbelt below 
Warm Springs Mesa.

"I thought, `Do I look like a predator to him or do I look like lunch?"' 
Mountain said after the incident.

Idaho Fish and Game officials say mountain lions are more common this year 
in the foothills above Boise because deer numbers have increased.

Mild winters in the past few years have increased deer numbers; and mountain 
lions follow the herds. In all, there have been about a dozen reports in the 
past several months in the Boise area.

There have been no fatal attacks by mountain lions in Idaho since the late 
1800s, officials said. But other western states have had them. A jogger was 
killed in Auburn, Calif., in 1994.

Mountain lions -- also called cougars, pumas or panthers -- may weigh up to 
160 pounds and measure eight feet from nose to tail.

Although deer are a primary food for mountain lions, the large cats also 
will eat neighborhood cats and small dogs.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture trapped and killed a mountain 
lion north of Hidden Springs because it was eating livestock.

Conservation officers with tracking dogs are dispatched immediately to 
reports of sightings.

"We have no tolerance for mountain lions in developed areas," said Jon 
Rachael, regional wildlife manager for Fish and Game. "We don't want them in 
residential areas."

full story:
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/news-story.asp?date=100103&ID=s1418412&cat=section.regional


"The indifference, callousness and contempt that so many peiple exibit 
toward animals is evel first because it results in the great suffering of 
animals, and second because it results in an incalculably great 
impoverishment of the human spirit."
Ashley Montagu

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