Mountain Lion Spotted in Amador City (Can't relocate it, can't kill it)

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

By Jim Reece/Amador Ledger Dispatch : Dr. Jeanie B. Nugent, a Sutter Hill chiropractor, said Wednesday that a mountain lion has been sleeping in a tree in the backyard of her Amador City home, on the east side of Highway 49.

She said the big cat has been chasing neighbors' cats and has taken up residence in her big oak, sleeping hours there. She first noticed it when the lion actually jumped from out of nowhere, possibly the tree, chased a neighbor's cat and actually brushed past her leg. She spoke with the California Fish and Game Department, which said there is not much they can do besides shoot the lion if it is dangerous or damages property. She said she would rather have it relocated and does not want the animal shot, but the department said they cannot relocate problem lions.

<snip>

The mountain lion is a protected mammal, since the 1990 state-wide passage of Proposition 117, creating a law making it illegal to kill the cats. The law, section 4800 of Fish and Game code, can only be changed by a four-fifths majority of the Legislature.

The law carries penalties of up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $10,000, or both, for unlawfully killing a mountain lion. It is enforced by state wardens. In a legally justified killing of a cat, she said, self-defense or the defense of others must be proved.

<snip>

http://www.mymotherlode.com/News/article/kvml/1116624399

[roguevalley]

1. I hope it gets away. I love those animals.

[Warpy]

6. I live in cougar country

and they won't go after humans unless they're injured, sick, or starving.

A warning shot generally scares the kitty away. People in the boonies keep their guns for just this purpose, and for scaring bears away from the trash cans, and from dispatching the occasional rattlesnake that wants to move into the garden or back porch.

It's so typical that the only solution some pinhead can think of is "kill it." It sure doesn't sound particularly dangerous to humans at this point, although I don't think I'd let my house cats outside until it moves on.

They really are beautiful cats.

[hecate77]

7. We have a big cat in our area. She had her kit near here last year

Other people around here get all upset if their unleashed dogs and cats get killed, but hey, the lions live here and have a right to keep hunting. If they want to have city animals in the woods, they should accept the consequences. We heard our lion take a deer right outside our living room last year. What an eerie scream that was.

This year, she had her kit somewhere else, but has been roaming the area once again. Her kit from last year was killed by a car, unfortunately.

We often find places where she took down a deer, as evidenced by the large paw prints, spread far, leading to an area of scuffle with deer prints around and then a big messed up area where she took the deer. Last year we could also find her kit's prints with hers.

If you live close with wild nature, you have to get used to the fact that things in nature kill other things, and not let your pets run loose, and not go running in the woods at dawn or dusk.

[Jane Austin]

2. What state or region is this in?

n/t

[bemildred]

3. California, Sierra foothills. nt

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

4. Since the piece said...

"She spoke with the California Fish and Game Department, which said there is not much they can do besides shoot the lion if it is dangerous or damages property."

I would assume it is California.

[Jane Austin]

5. Woops. Time to read slower. :)

n/t

[medeak]

8. typical of CA

there's hope however...person needs to search.

My secretary's dog was laid open by mountain lion attacked in her driveway. Locals got together and trapped it and relocated.

You don't have to leave everything up the gov

edited to say 20 yr old horse was killed across the street.

Lions didn't eat anything...just ripped them all open and left to bleed to death

[medeak]

9. here's link for northern CA

they probably could help

Mountain Lion Foundation, in partnership with the National Audubon Society: Adopt-A-Species Program
www.mountainlion.org
P.O. Box 1896, Sacramento, CA 95812
[phone] [e-mail]

Students adopt a local endangered species and develop a habitat restoration plan and community awareness project in support of the species. Please contact the Mountain Lion Foundation for information on past projects and how you and your classmates or group can get involved .

Wildlife, Habitat Preservation

[slackmaster]

10. Prop 117 has exceptions for depredation and threats to humans

Mountain lions that encroach on human habitat get shot in California every year even when they haven't actually attacked someone.

[Mr.Green93]

11. The people should

be made to move. They are the ones encroaching.

[ozone_man]

16. Another case of development encroaching

on mountain lion habitat. I appreciate that this woman does not want the cat killed. Beautiful animals.

I can't throw too many stones, because our big cats in Vermont disappeared a hundred years ago, not from development, but from hunting. Though there are the occasional sightings. Could be like the Ivory Billed. ;)

[benburch]

12. The neighborhood dogs and cats...

should not be running free in any case!

I'd KILL to have a Mountain Lion living in my Oak.

[medeak]

13. will probably get flamed for this

every couple of years we get a "rogue" cat. One killed 60 sheep... just to kill not for feed.

Probably diseased in some way.. but no. I don't want one thank you!

[havocmom]

14. Theres a smart ol kitty living just west of the small town where I live.

It will go down by the highway at night, sit on a gentle slope above the road where deer like to munch the greens along the shoulder. Those deer will get hit pretty often in that stretch of road. Smart kitty just lets trucks do the hard work. Probably an older cougar who just plays the odds. Have only seen it at night so not a real good look to judge its age.

The bald eagles clean up anything left by morning.

[doodadem]

15. They don't want anything to do with humans

We're at about 2,000 feet elevation in the Sierras, and yes, this area gets both lions and bears that will occasionally come down and take a sheep/goat/calf. It's usually an older cat that doesn't hunt deer well anymore, or a young lazy one.
I have a couple different neighbors that have lost a number of animals to the cause. One bitches about how the environmentalists in Sacramento have no idea what it's really like to live with the critters. The other one says-hey, we're living in their habitat, an occasional loss is the price we pay.
I just hope they decide to stick with the HERDS of sheep/goats, and leave my Bitsy pygmy goat alone. I don't think one would want to go in among 3 big horses and a Brahma steer.
One thing that is recommended around here is to leave talk radio going near your livestock, so the cat thinks humans are around. It seems to work. They have not expressed a preference for either Limbaugh or Air America however.........

[DemoTex]

17. Black panther is on our mountain (not Huey Newton or Bobby Seale).

It has been spotted several times in the past year. I saw the panther two days after Nick-Nick encountered it over the ridge line behind our mountain house. Nick-Nick's back hair turned gray after his wild encounter that night. He was a lucky dog!