The video is interesting but short. VIDEO: Mountain lion caught entering Brentwood homeowner's backyard - ABC7 San Francisco
So what would you do if you stumbled across a mountain lion in your back yard? Remember, the good people of California (and the Bay Area) think guns are uncivilized for the most part.
This is one big cat. Click thru for the video. It was caught briefly on security video. It is a fairly typical residential/suburban area, so it is a bit surprising.
I'm not sure there is a message with this story, except to point out that since it is California, no one recommends "shoot it with your firearm." Maybe you can't in California, maybe they value the cat's life above human life.
Brentwood, California is in Contra Costa County. It is about a 45 mile drive east of Oakland, and about a 25 mile drive west of Stockton. The Wiki lists it as being the the East San Francisco Bay area. I'm not sure I would have said that when I live in that part of the world.
My hometown is named Hesperia. But not California, Hesperia, MI. It is a village of around 1,000 people located halfway up the "mitten" and around 20 some miles from Lake Michigan. In about 2015 or so my son was living there, in the same place that I spent 10 years of my 30 years in my hometown.
ReplyDeleteHe walked outside one day to smoke, and walked within 10 yards of a cougar that was stalking a wild Turkey. He crept back inside and got his wife, and a gun, and went back out to show his San Luis Obispo bride the cougar. It was still there, but he didn't go as close as the first time. I contacted the DNR here in Michigan and they said that while they often get reports of cougars in the lower peninsula, they don't acknowledge them since they don't have absolute proof such as DNA and positive pictures that can be proven to be from a certain location.
I do understand their desire to be positive before making any official announcement, but the latest that they have admitted to finding a cougar is just below the Mackinac bridge. In my opinion I think that it is due to the tourism industry and their desire to not scare people away from our many state parks, county parks, and the camping and hunting and fishing that the state wants to encourage.
The DNR did the same thing with black bears, refusing to admit that we have a fairly large number of them in the lower peninsula, almost as far south as the southern border, until too many of them were getting hit by cars and killed. It is hard to deny that a black bear is in Fremont, MI the Gerber baby food manufacture that is 12 miles from Hesperia, when the animal lies dead on the side of the road.
And yes, I did admonish my son, who was about 25 years old at the time, against getting anywhere close to a wild critter that will possibly attack him. By the way, my son now lives in downtown Grand Rapids in an apartment. I myself couldn't stand living in a big city.