Last of Summer - Heceta Lighthouse

[gray]

Best of luck with that interview Maya.

Gray.

[OklaEd]

Second that Maya ... go get 'em girl!

Junglegeorge,
Welcome to TalkGraphics!

[John Rayner]

Hi Maya,

Although you would probably be pretty good to eat, I think the cougar was more interested in the goats. Wish you the best of luck with the interview!!! I have seen your work, if your asking price is reasonable, then they would be a foolish not to hire you.

Welcome to talkgraphics JungleGeorge...

[Crow Haven]

Thanks so much for the encouraging words, Gray, Ed and John!!! I'm so looking forward to this interview!!!

Welcome aboard TG Junglegeorge!!!

John, I'm very reasonable! I'm also very glad not to have become a menu item for that cougar -- the goats are safe as the dog, Bear, is very protective of them, and they are the best of buddies.

[John Rayner]

We have had a couple dogs become hot dogs for mountain lions in this neck o da woods... Maybe the cougar was eyeing "bear" as a snack, and not the ole goats or your tush.

[Crow Haven]

Guess we won't know for sure -- other than the cat was dining well on the local deer. A doe and her 2 fawns and a young buck decided it best to leave the hill here and stay more out in the open in a neighbor's pasture....and they are still staying there. Bear is pretty courageous (dogs can be stupidly so at times), large = a mix of Rottie, Coyote, Boxer and Chow (but looks a lot like a huge Golden Retriever), and watches the property well. I have no doubt he'd at least try to ward off a cougar or black bear. Still, ya never know...

[John Rayner]

Don't know the habits of cougars, are they loners? or do you have to wonder about a love lorn mate?

[Ballpoint]

Yeah, I've seen your website too Maya and as I said before the artwork is stunning....good luck with the interview

[Mike S]

Maya best of luck to you!

when i lived in Florida we lived right on the very edge of the Green Swamp in Polk County and we had 18 acres and in the one bayhead lived a Florida Panther. we never saw her but you would hear her "scream" everynight. it was the most nerving sound as it sounded like a woman screaming for her life, but that was just their growl. she never bothered us or the animals.

i feel bad when i see these animals being killed as we are the ones that are intruding on their home. they just shot and killed a black bear here in new jersey last week for scrounging for food in garbage cans. they treed the bear with dogs and shot the poor thing. i saw the picture of the treed bear and it looked so scared then it was over. imagine if we shot and killed people for scrounging for food. ok sorry for going off topic on ya. i will go away again back to lurking again good luck again Maya knock 'em dead

[Crow Haven]

Cougars -- don't get me wrong, I'm not of the opinion that there's a place for all God's creatures...right next to the potatoes and gravy. I feel sorry for the outcome and that the cat was shot instead of relocated.

I agree that population growth does encroach on animals' habitats. It gets into a complicated mix about balance, and then also has to do with the whole food chain thing as the population numbers of prey species, in this case often the deer, changes due to their own situation with food and things like wildfire and weather controls which impacts on their health and ranges and own numbers....so then also does this in turn affect the range and well being of the species which live off them, such as the cougar.

Most of the time male cougars are solitary, they keep separate territories except at breeding. Then the females keep the cubs with them for months till they are ready to go off on their own and establish territories also. Each cat uses a lot of space (sq. miles) so if something crowds them like too many cougar offspring for an area, people, natural disasters, hunting, etc. they can end up roaming closer to human populated areas. Most of the time they still avoid contact with us, but sometimes, with the males especially, they become bolder and venture into neighborhood areas seeking prey.

When I lived in Washington state (Port Angeles area) there was an over population of male cougars in the Hurricane Ridge and surrounding areas. There had been very little hunting of these cats and as a result they lost all fear of people. My neighbor was stalked by one while camping, if not for the sense that he was being "watched" he would never have turned around in time to find it almost upon him. He shouted at it and russled the bushes but the cat was not deterred and came forward to make the attack. Jim would have been killed but happened to have a rifle and that's all that saved him. The forest service was actually happy that Jim survived and stopped the cat as the numbers in the region (which was quite a vast wilderness and low human population) had expanded dramatically and there were too many males competing for territories which was emboldening them further. Hikers and cyclists were being chased even down the roads!

I do not like seeing these animals shot...nor things like this happening to bears, etc., and thankfully it's not a common occurance here. Most of the time these animals avoid us, and there's still a lot of wilderness for them to survive in here along with such mild weather (food for everything year round, lots of water, mild winters with only the rare dusting of snow or frost) they do very well. There's even an elk herd up on the hill above our place -- they are like ghosts, though, they are very good at just disappearing into the woodland and you'd never know they were around. We have black bears -- the first animal I saw in my back yard the first year I lived here was a young black bear cub. I almost had stepped right out the door into him! I quickly retreated back and shut the door and just watched him play and roll in the daisy patch then meander back up into the hills -- where mom must have been waiting for him. As cute as they are though, bears also have to be taken seriously and a lot of caution used around them. Black bear attacks are often more deadly than those of the Alaskan brown bear and Grizzlies which are a lot bigger. More often black bears will eat the humans they kill, and there are cases where they have even broken into cabins and killed and eaten the person within. I enjoy watching bears -- but at a distance!

There's only 3 homes up here (and as it's remote that's how it's been the last 30 years, before that there was only a few scattered farms down in the valley. This is the first time a cougar has been so bold as to hang around a neighbor's home and kill deer right on his driveway....there has been a large increase in the deer population here as no hunting for them occurs closeby, and there's plenty of food for their expanding population too. This cougar just had some different ideas and no fear of people. For the cat it would have been better if he had.

As cougar are loners this may have been the only one closeby -- for now. I'm sure that only the dog's presence saved the goats. The home next to the other neighbor recently had it's renters move -- and with that went their 3 German Shepherds. Those 3 big dogs roamed all around here and may have also kept the cat from their home area as well as the neighbor's home which the cat then started to hang around apparently soon after they moved away(those neighbors who had the cougar on their property don't have a dog). Just about everyone out here has big dogs to watch their property and it's been working well to keep things safe. Now new renters have moved into the next door home and they have a 5 yr old daughter. We've told them of the recent cougar activity and about the bears......so I hope they take precautions and are careful.

Thanks for the replies and encourgement, Chris and Mike!
Mike -- when I lived in Florida also I learned about the Florida panther, they are extremely rare and endangered, as are the key deer. They seem to be a smaller subspecies of the cougars found in the rest of the US. With things like the hurricanes and wildfires there, along with human population, it's a miracle any survive at all.