This happened 7 miles west of my farm!

So, freak right out about it whydontcha. I live in Mountain Lion Paradise, Northern Idaho. Critters galore, even five kids, yet no attacks in all these years. Add all my neighbors and their visiting kin...all with no problems from the evil Mountain Lion!

A couple of my kids have been lucky enough to have seen a Mountain Lion in the wild, and the rest wish they had. As old in the tooth as I am, working in the woods daily for years, I have only had the gift of a couple Mountain Lion glimpses. Yet, at least one is shot here on my place at least once a year.

Their presence here is welcome, even with the livestock that have never been bothered. This was once all their land...we have chosen to occupy it with our critters.

There is no reason to be fearful. Learn to live with and respect their presence. Your ego will be much more peaceful with your acceptance.

CJ said:

I don't think any guard dog is going to stand much of a chance against a mountain lion. A bobcat yes.

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I was wondering about that. However, a 120+ pound dog with a heavy coat might do better than ya think! In all honesty, I was hoping that just the deterent of a huge, noisy dog would be enough, should there ever be another in the area. My collie has chased off a few bears in his time by sheer temper tantrum alone! :haha: Pyres are successfully used to keep bears at bay, so I'd hope they would do at least a little better than my aging collie or Chesapeake.

I don't see how they would really start populating the area, though, not too much available habitat. Back in my hometown in western ND, there have been a few attacks on horses recently (in the past 2-3 months), but I've not heard of any killed cows, sheep, etc. recently. However, that whole area provides much better habitat for lions, and little population density, and people are a little more aware of any risk.

bare said:

"So, freak right out about it whydontcha. I live in Mountain Lion Paradise, Northern Idaho. Critters galore, even five kids, yet no attacks in all these years. Add all my neighbors and their visiting kin...all with no problems from the evil Mountain Lion!"

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Are you always this condescending? Did you actually read my comments before launching into a self-rightious rant? Do you think that perhaps people like yourself who live in cat country are more acustomed to, and as a result, prepared for them? Southeastern SD is not home to many (if any previously??) mountain lions, so I was taken off guard by this development, as was the entire community. I'm terribly sorry this offends you so. Now, do you think that parents, living in town in an area not prone to cats would be troubled to hear of one hiding in the shrubs next to a house that the their children walk by on their way to school? If you noticed, I did not scream for anhiallation of all cats, I commented that it was time to get a LGD, implying that I may need to prepare for a potential risk to my livestock. I'm happy to hear that this has not been your experience, but livestock and people have been killed by cats. To try to make them sound like harmless animals and ignore any risk seems irresponsible to me.

I am one of the last people on Earth who would condone something as ridiculous as killing off creatures that have been on this land far longer than I for "what might happen". Especially when there are simple methods (LGD) of protecting livestock that allow preditor and potential prey to live together peacefully. However, when I hear of a potentially dangerous animal that is not known to live in this area, and especially when that animal is found well within city limits, it threw me for a loop! I realized that I may have to rethink how well I'm protecting my animals. I was hoping for a little practical advise from someone who's dealt with cats and livestock. Guess I'd better just keep my mouth shut, huh? :no:

April

..............There are a Limited number of wild creature's in the Us and Alaska that are survivors in my opinion and should be accorded special treatment in some way or another . They are ..........Coyete , Cougar\Puma\mountain lion , Grizzly Bear , Timber Wolf , Moose , Elk , Buffalo , etc. The coyete will survive on its own initiative and probablly needs NO special recognition which means I shouldn't have included it in the first Place.
.............These special creatures are the Very Essence of what The American WEST was , is and should Continue TOO be as far as the "Freedom " to Discover what's over the Next Mountain. They must be preserved along with the 200 Million plus acres of National Park land That Teddy Roosevelt signed into Existence just before he left office. I also Understand that lions must NOT be Allowed to destroy the herds of vulnerable animals like sheep and goats. They must be either moved and\or shot when necessary.
.............If, we allow the force of economic development to pave, cement , cultivate every undeveloped acre of land we possess the MYSTERY and Sense of AWE that you get when you visit places like YellowStone , Glacier, etc. will simply be destroyed. This cannot be allowed to happen.......fordy....

fordy said:

..............There are a Limited number of wild creature's in the Us and Alaska that are survivors in my opinion and should be accorded special treatment in some way or another . They are ..........Coyete , Cougar\Puma\mountain lion , Grizzly Bear , Timber Wolf , Moose , Elk , Buffalo , etc. The coyete will survive on its own initiative and probablly needs NO special recognition which means I shouldn't have included it in the first Place.
.............These special creatures are the Very Essence of what The American WEST was , is and should Continue TOO be as far as the "Freedom " to Discover what's over the Next Mountain. They must be preserved along with the 200 Million plus acres of National Park land That Teddy Roosevelt signed into Existence just before he left office. I also Understand that lions must NOT be Allowed to destroy the herds of vulnerable animals like sheep and goats. They must be either moved and\or shot when necessary.
.............If, we allow the force of economic development to pave, cement , cultivate every undeveloped acre of land we possess the MYSTERY and Sense of AWE that you get when you visit places like YellowStone , Glacier, etc. will simply be destroyed. This cannot be allowed to happen.......fordy....

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I agree with you, it's a good feeling to know that wolves, eagles and cats, amoung others, are making a comeback. I think the real problem is when people choose not to inform and prepare themselves to live peacefully with predators. I don't know if it's a misguided sense of entitlement, but it seems that there are too many folks with livestock living with predators who expect the gov't to "fix" their predator problem. These seem to be the ones screaming for blood.

I'm really curious as to where this cat came from. From what I understand, they are doing well in western ND and SD, but it was a shock to see one here. The James River sticks to the easter half of both of these states, so if he was indeed following this river, they might be repopulating these areas also.

Now, will someone stop worrying that I'm out to kill'em all, and just give me some practical advice?? :haha:

April the Pacifist (there, does that help? )

I think a pair of LGD's would do the trick, one I'm no so sure of. My husband has a mad passionate affair (hehe) with German Shepherds, and so we don't keep LGD's (not a good mix). However, we've always walked our land, most especially the borders with them every few days and in the past that kept away the predators, even the coyotes.

Both of our males are dead now and the 3 females scent does not deter the predators at all. Or perhaps for years we were just lucky. All I know is that in the last year and half our valley, which consists of 4 families in about 2000 acres has seen a huge upsurge in predators. I hear my neighbor out shooting it seems like ALL the time now.

Jim and I saw a bobcat right up on the road last week during the day, we've had racoons visit us in the front yard in broad daylight, and while we know the mountain lion that ate our farm last year is dead, the neighbor spotted another one this year.

I'd much rather see the gorgeous creatures roam free. I don't even mind sharing an occasional lamb or something from our garden for them to eat. My livlihood being wiped out so they can survive though is pushing the limits of my compassion for their survival.

We have tons of deer that keep us entertained while napping with their babies right off the front fenceline. Same with wild turkey. They occasionally take a bite or two from our orchard, but again, I don't mind sharing and we'd never shoot them unless we were starving ourselves. However, if they decided to eat the entire orchard, you can bet they'd be going in our freezer.

apirlawz said:

"My hubby was talking to someone at work about this today, and they had mentioned that the cats usually tend to follow rivers, and they thought that this one just happened to follow the James River...the same one that flows exactly one mile west of my farm! I just have birds and rabbits, but I'm surrounded by cattle ranchers. Bet those guys are getting nervous! Also, I'm just glad school's out...can you image how dangerous that would have been for kids walking to school!?
April

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That's a bit too close for comfort. It happens around here and our neighbor shot at a black one about 8 yrs ago, before we moved here. It happens every year here, somewhere around us and we are between two rivers and far enough out in the sticks they could hide well. I guess civilization has just encroached too far in on them. The ones born wild will attack livestock, they just look at it as food.
What concerns me though are the people that try to raise them as pets. In Oklahoma you can have exotic animals as pets w/o having to have a license for them - VERY STUPID. At times, some have escaped and I truly believe some people have turned them loose because they could no longer feed them when they got too big. Not good when they don't know how to hunt in the wild, it means they will go towards town.
We actually have small Zoo's here that rescue these type of exotic pets that people can/won't care for any longer, I sure hope that wasn't the case where you are April.