Walk #118: Mountain Lions, Dogs and Rednecks...

The other day there was a simply awful piece in the Paradise Post regarding a couple of goats who were killed by a suspected mountain lion next to the big park that sits on the edge of the canyon in Paradise, California. This piece quoted the owner of the goats, who said something to the order that: "I'm a hunter, we have too many mountain lions". Rubbish.

Juxtapose that with a visit at my door by the Butte County Animal Control this afternoon, who took a report that there was a dog mauling of a two year old child on my property. The mauling did occur; it wasn't on my property. Where it happened, the folks use our address because they can't get an address given to them due to the fact that they do not have a septic system. They just flush their pooh over the side of the canyon.

But on that piece of property, a two year old was bit (and air lifted to a hospital) by one of the local Redneck's dogs. Luckily, the dog was a gray wolfhound and my dog is a yellow lab. My dog, having passed the Doggy Lineup by the Animal Control Folks, was cleared of any wrong doing.

Back to the Paradise Post (also printed by the Chico paper) story, which was nothing short of hysterical hype over the supposed misdeeds of a mountain lion. Where the mountain lion took it's prey, there weren't any houses. The goats were tethered there (much like that goat which pops up from the ground in the movie Jurassic Park, waiting for T-Rex) and left as bait. Quite secluded. People do that around here to clear brush. No one had tended the goats for a couple of days.

Has anybody heard of a Shepherd?

The last child killed by a mountain lion was (if memory serves me correctly) about 70 years ago. We have had very few deaths from mountain lions. In fact, given how many mountain lions we have killed over the years, the mountain lion has been quite good to us. They rarely take humans. They do take animals in our neighborhood that are left unprotected. Two of my neighbors left their dogs on a leash. They came home and found the leash. On the very property that had the dog mauling, a mountain lion was under the porch one day, when the neighbor came home. The mountain lion stayed for a bit, and then skirted over the edge of the canyon.

The real danger is the Redneck's dog. The Concow Redneck's dogs are aggressive breeds. The photo at the top, I took on my walk today. Gnarly and vicious beasts. Often they are pit bulls, or pit bull mixes. They are bred to supposedly protect the local Redneck's property (which often is a pot garden).

We don't have too many mountain lions. These are shy and helpful creatures. What we do have too many of are the Redneck's aggressive dogs. My poor neighbor's kid learned that today. I don't know what the status of this child is yet.

I also think we have way too many hunters. Let's let the mountain lion take care of the excess deer; let the Redneck eat purina dog chow.

Such is life in Concow today...