My Feeling
I enjoy seeing and interacting with wildlife. I occasionally set out a wildlife camera to see what wanders by on my rural property when I am not looking. Recently, I got a photograph of a mountain lion. This area is increasingly well populated with rural homes, so it was a surprise to see the photo of the big, beautiful cat. Over the years, neighbors occasionally would tell me they had spotted one, but I would think it was probably a bobcat magnified by the mind's eye. Then last year, a genuine cougar was shot about 3/4 mile from here by some governmental agency after the cat had killed a neighbor's goat. The neighbor's dog had treed it and it had a tag in its ear indicating that this was not the first goat it had killed. The big cats get no third chance. I have three pet goats, so I pay attention to information like this.
I was reluctant to spread the word around the neighborhood because some people are quick to kill anything that could possibly be a problem. Traps and attractive scents are easy to come by. Some neighbors have trained dogs and good hunting skills so visiting wildlife does not have much of a chance if they know it is around and want to kill it. I hear stories of people around here who have killed many bobcats. I love having wildlife around and think it is due time to rethink how we coexist with our fellow creatures.
The Decline of Wildlife
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