August 31, 2010

A letter to the East Bay Community about this tragic event from Felidae's Executive Director, Zara McDonald

This is a day I had wished would never come. Once inhabiting every corner of this continent, the mountain lion has always been more felt than seen. Early Tuesday morning the poignant death of a female mountain lion, roving in the city of Berkeley near the famed Chez Panisse restaurant, should be a wake up call to all of us.

Some of us knew this day would come. Many others of us never saw it coming. Bay Area residents are fortunate to have this majestic, solitary and shy cat dignify and balance our ecosystems. More of us need to better understand what this means.

The mountain lion, also known as the puma and cougar, is very rarely seen. Even though they evoke a level of fear in communities where they make a cameo appearance, they do not seek out human neighborhoods, our pets or our heavily trafficked streets.

A mountain lion’s worst nightmare is to end up in a town, where this female lion ended up early Tuesday morning, with no way out. Did she chase a deer from the hills and become disoriented? Did she take a fatal turn as she was in search of food? Was she sick? Or was she a captive animal who escaped? More details will emerge, but one thing we know is once in the maze of the heavily populated town of Berkeley she was scared, out of her element and not sure how to get back where she came from.

The police on the scene Tuesday morning responded as well as one could expect. This is such an abnormal event, that any response must be to ensure the safety of the community. There were many variables to consider in the difficult situation that required immediate action, calling upon the judgement of the officers at the scene. California's Department of Fish and Game has recently completed a video specifically to help guide law enforcement agencies facing such situations, and is in the process of distributing it to agencies throughout the state.

Felidae is deeply saddened by the outcome of this event, especially because the mountain lion was female and she was quite possibly caring for young. If she was, the cubs have a slim chance of survival to adulthood.

This event raises questions that many of us are struggling to answer as we track cats with GPS collars in human-dominated parts of their geographical range. We are seeking to learn more about their movement needs, which are shifting significantly as human encroachment increases. Mountain lions need space, and a lot of it. They need a way out, with movement pathways to connect their populations for genetic diversity to ensure healthy populations, much like humans.

Our work in research and conservation is simply to present the facts and make the case for healthy populations of mountain lions to co-exist with human populations, while at the same time raising public awareness.

The path ahead is clear. We have a rich biodiversity in Bay Area ecosystems and enviable acreage of natural spaces. In order to hold onto this gift, we all must all play a role in understanding the integral connections of flora and fauna, and in holding onto the fragile balance that exists in and around the cities and towns where we reside. Mountain lions are a keystone species, playing an important role in this delicately balanced system.

When I first encountered a mountain lion in the wild my life changed forever. There was no undoing that moment. I am now destined to devote a portion of my life to guiding a clearer understanding of nature’s intent for this mysterious cat, who quietly and stealthily roams the Bay Area, rarely seen, unless upon collision, capture or death.

Thank you for reading this letter. Check back for upcoming events and community meetings that will further expand on this topic, and please join us to share your thoughts and comments.




Zara McDonald
Executive Director

To add a comment below, please email info@felidaefund.org.


Comments

"Hi, I read the story about the lion being shot today and was outraged that Fish and Game condoned the shooting. Is this really right? Could the animal not have been sedated and examined and relocated?"

Kindly,
Paola
Forest Knolls, CA


"Hello:
I personally feel someone should be urging the police to stop shooting Mountain Lions. The latest was a female? Wow so her cubs may be motherless? That is pathetic. We in society know there are tranquilizers etc to take them down. Life especially that of wild animals should be guarded, and not ended.
I also feel orgs like Felidae should do their part and do more to protect the Mountain Lions in California.
I also wish the ALF get involved and do their part to stop the shooting of wildlife by police.
Thank you."

Dina Boyer


"As a Berkeley resident I have usually been impressed with the Berkeley police and their level of compassion toward both humans and animals. However, the shooting of a mountain lion for no good reason last night is making me rethink this opinion. I don't understand why the police dept. could not have used a tranquilizer gun and relocated the lion--if they do not have this equipment, I understand there is a program that the Mountain Lion Foundation gives to educate police departments about this sort of incident. That lion was not threatening anyone, as I understand it, and should have been relocated to an appropriate spot. One could look at it like this: WE (humans) have taken over THEIR habitat."

Lisa
Berkeley, CA


"Zara your letter touches on many important points, especially the need for greater public awareness to the true habits and needs of these beautiful creatures. People need to begin to appreciate the 'stealthy' role they play within our wonderful ecosystem, as well as the fact that they have no instinctive desire to harm or even come in direct contact with humans and our communities.

We need to be better prepared and equipped to deal with these very infrequent moments between a Mountain Lion and our community. To educate (and arm) those who are most likely to be first on the scene, so they are able to implement a non lethal approach to ending to such an event in a timely manner.

This includes the Fish and Game having a greater understanding of these wild cats and their behavior. This may encourage them to take a different view towards condoning the use of lethal force in the future. I feel by condoning such actions, it only serves to unjustly add to the fear of the general public. Instead they could be using such moments to create an opportunity to better educate the general public on the true facts regarding these wonderful creatures."


Regards,
R.S.
Mill Valley, CA


"Zara and the team at Felidae,

Thank you for your selfless devotion and continued efforts in field research, conservation and particularly providing the public with valuable education regarding these amazing creatures. Clearly the need exists for our law enforcement agencies to be better prepared to handle such encounters without the need for lethal force. I am reminded of the killing of a cat a few years ago in a suburb of Palo Alto, I felt outraged and sickened when that event took place. Especially considering the fact that the cat was surrounded while it tried to hide in a tree during broad daylight. It seems to me that this was a situation where a Fish and Game Warden could have humanely subdued the cat with a tranquilizer gun. I am deeply saddened and appalled that this recent encounter ended in yet another tragic killing of an animal that was most likely disoriented and inadvertently ended up in the midst of the human populace. I would think that given the early hours when this occurred, the likelihood of any real danger to the public at large was minimal at best. The news article mentioned that it wasn’t feasible for an agent from the Dept. of Fish and Game to be able to respond from Sacramento in a timely manner. It is my understanding that this is an erroneous statement, as all DFG Wardens act autonomously and are dispersed throughout numerous counties, including Alameda County.

I am hopeful that this new training that the DFG is providing to law enforcement, will enlighten and inform them that clearly, better methods exist for resolving what is likely to become more frequent encounters, given the fact that we are gobbling up open space by building housing adjacent to and in the heart of their natural range. I am an open space user and am frequently in areas ranging from the Mid Peninsula Open Space District lands all the way to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and have yet to experience a sighting of one of these elusive and beautiful creatures. Obviously, Mountain Lions prefer to remain undetected and undisturbed in their habitat. I support the fine work that you do and truly hope that you can help alleviate all the fear and hype that is becoming a real problem in the Bay Area and other areas of California. Our news media is not helping and seems to only fuel the fire of fear. Only an educated and informed public will be able to decide what is best for us to all coexist. We are all very fortunate and should remember what a privilege it is to live so close to such an abundance of unspoiled open space, inhabited by such a richly diverse animal and plant population. These precious lands can only truly survive as balanced and healthy ecosystems if our keystone predators are there to keep other species populations in control. The time is now, for us as stewards of the lands and our animal counterparts to take responsible and informed steps to protect and preserve the fragile balance, before the damage becomes irreversible. Imagine a world, where these majestic creatures only exist in museum exhibits and in photographs. I for one, cannot accept this as a possible future. We have an opportunity as a society to do the right thing, before it really is too late."

Thank you,
C.A.S.
Corte Madera, CA


"It just seems to me that DFG and most police departments don’t know what to do and hide behind the claim “we killed it for public safety”.
 
I have also seen a lot of comments from folks speculating this was someone’s pet that escaped. This alone shows me ignorance to these animals behavior. It’s funny many of these folks also state they see deer in these neighborhoods. Well put it together people!
 
I have also had time to think about my initial response to the story on your web site and I think I was not so upset by the murder of another Puma so to speak but how a large portion our society or the ones that make these kind of decisions feels they are justified because they really don’t know how to handle this situation."

DT
Santa Clara, CA


Berkeley residents have established an informal memorial to the mountain lion at Shattuck and Cedar.
To see photos of this memorial, please visit the gallery.

Thank you to local Bay Area resident RK for sending us these photos.


"There was a children's preschool having an outside sleepover in a nearby back yard. Would you value the life of the mountain lion over the lives of those children? I am an animal lover but also a realist. Midtown Berkeley is not a safe place for people with a mountain lion on the loose. I am a vocational rehabilitation counselor and one of my peers was killed by a mountain lion while she was jogging. I would not want to meet a similar fate."

MC
Oakland, CA

[Felidae Note: We have been unable to confirm the accuracy of the claim in the above posting about the mountain lion attack.]


"There isn’t a lot of information coming forth about this animal.

Is the carcass in the hands of Fish & Game? A necropsy would tell us a great deal, including whether or not the female had given birth recently.

I have repeatedly asked the Berkeley Police if they had taken any pictures of the animal, and to an officer, they look at me with a stonefaced expression and say “I dunno”."

MM
Berkeley


"The sadness of this event is augmented in particular by the fact that death could be avoided. I do not believe that a request for better on-sight response means to value the life of a mountain lion over the lives of preschoolers- we can coexist with a surprisingly low level of sacrifice. The mountain lion did not have to be shot and killed in order to protect the lives of nearby children; the lion could have been tranquilized and removed from midtown Berkeley with relatively low effort and costs. Mountain lions are crucial members to the surrounding ecosystem that we often take for granted. Educational campaigns must be implemented to prevent future unnecessary deaths. The Felidae Conservation Fund does a particularly fantastic job at providing education to local institutions as well as to institutions nationwide, and for that we should be thankful."

Best,
BG
San Francisco, CA


"One wonders whether humans are really as smart as they claim. Obviously, killing the animal wasn't their only option. They should have captured it (tranquilizing it if necessary) and transported it to better habitat. Why wasn't animal control called in?"

MV