Mountain Lion sightings in our area, along with remnants from deer kills close to homes are up. Residents are warned to avoid contributing to bringing predators too close.
Our Wild Neighborhood
Just after dusk about two weeks ago a scream was heard in Pine Mountain near 2200 Woodland Drive. Residents called security, which sent two officers to investigate. They discovered a blood-smeared patch on the ground and—as described by witnesses—a deer’s head, legs and chewed torso.
“A fawn can make a sound like a young child screaming or crying,” explained Peter Cervantez, a USDA Wildlife Specialist based in Taft. He had been told of lion sightings in the 2000 block of Woodland.
“If people are feeding the deer right there close to their own backyard, it will bring the mountain lions in closer than is healthy for anyone,” Cervantez said.
The officers and neighbors had happened upon a sight understandable in wild nature, but rarely seen by humans, because most hunting activity by lions takes place far away from human dwellings.
Ron Jurek, a wildlife biologist with the California Department of Fish and Game writes: “The impulse to offer food is natural. It’s called hospitality when we offer it to our own species. It gives us pleasure.” But, he cautions, “let’s not inadvertently kill wildlife with our kindness.
Attracting deer may also attract animals that prey on deer…. By routinely feeding deer, you may attract mountain lions.”
Our Wild Neighborhood is a new feature in The Mountain Enterprise, about the experiences we have living close to wildlife in the Mountain Communities.
If you have wildlife sightings or experiences you would like to tell about, write Sightings@ MountainEnterprise.com. The information about sightings will be shared with Los Padres Bear Aware (LPBA), which will map sightings to help illustrate wildlife behaviors that may help in making decisions about roadway signage and even wildlife corridor passageways.
Los Padres Bear Aware is a nonprofit group formed to help protect our wild animals from unintended human harm.
Bears, for instance, which feed on human food (often as a result of poorly secured garbage) may be killed by government agencies as a precaution, reports LPBA founder Liz Bolden, because there is no longer a relocation program in California. “Bears are especially vulnerable to becoming attracted to a ‘learned food source’ that can make them a nuisance,” Bolden said. Los Padres Bear Aware promotes living with bears (and other wild animals) peacefully in our Mountain Communities. Bolden is researching affordable bear-proof garbage receptacles and seeking to make them available locally. See www.lospadresbearaware.com for more information.
This is part of the January 26, 2007 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.
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