Human beings are the second most dangerous animal, after mushrooms. Don’t mess with human beings or mushrooms unless you know what you are doing.
Don’t have pets, done!
In Tahoe the bear lovers are obnoxious. Now we have the war between the hikers and Mtn bikers. My wife runs a hiking group of old farts.
Mtn bikers are here year round and are truly nuts. Look up Mr Toads Wild ride.
The fact that it’s an albino points the finger of suspicion at a negligent keeper. Serves the guy or gal right for letting their critters get loose. I have some stuff that can do some damage. I’m under no illusions as to my liability if I lose track of the critters. No sure even my umbrella policy would kick in.
What are the green ones at the top?
Baron’s racers. I have about 20 eggs in two incubators right now. They’re rear fanged and can deliver a nasty bite that causes a couple days of swelling and muscel tremors but it’s never happened to me. One just needs to gauge their moods - especially the females with three times the mass and tens times the attitude of the males… Naturally I’m careful about who I sell them to.
We should annihilate the grizzly bear.
Rural area near Half Moon Bay.
I posted about the dog that was taken from just 5 feet in front of its owner a few weeks ago in La Honda. This was inevitable and will become more common.
Here in AZ we hunt them, killing about 10% of the population each year, so only those that are wary of people survive to breed and teach their cubs the way of the world.
Having your children attacked by wild animals - one more reason to ditch CA. I suppose you could live urban - and have the kids get accosted by homeless or get a nasty disease from stepping on a used needle.
Details on the attack. BTW it’s the third attack on a child by a mountain lion in three years; all in the Santa Cruz mountains. The other two attacks weren’t well publicized.
Sounds like some stupid here. The parents knew there were cougars about and also knew where they hung out and let the kid run ahead - around sunset.
From the La Honda Google group -
Hi All, the Bay Area Puma Project is in touch with the landowner where this incident took place and we have worked with him over the past year after he asked for assistance with his cameras. He has been sharing his wildlife camera data with us for our research. This incident happened to his farm manager’s young son. Here is what we know: last night, the 5 year old boy was walking with his family around sunset on the landowners property in Half Moon Bay. The boy ran ahead on the trail near a cement trough, close to a water trough sometimes visited by a mountain lion family group, a mom with 3 cubs. Several months ago the mom lost one cub. The mom and now 2 cubs have visited the area once every 2-3 months, and the cubs are now over 1 year old. One of the subadults was behind the trough as the boy ran by. Startled, the cub jumped out from behind the trough and made contact. His mother screamed & the subadult immediately ran away. Luckily, the boy is going to be okay. He was taken to the hospital to treat superficial face lacerations, requiring a few stitches. Our thoughts are with the boy and his family. Some takeaways from this event: please do not let your small children run ahead on a trail in mountain lion habitat especially close to, or after dark. If you come face to face with a mountain lion, stand your ground. Make yourself look big and do not break eye contact with the lion. If the puma seems to be approaching you aggressively, do not run! Make as much noise as possible and if it comes down to it, fight back.
Update, the thread is now a 30 post s-fest. Accusations of the Puma Project folk and some media downplaying the whole thing. Here’s a sample -
… referring to the description that the “cub jumped out from behind the trough and made contact. His mother screamed & the subadult immediately ran away… He was taken to the hospital to treat superficial face lacerations, requiring a few stitches.” Quite a downplay to being “covered in lacerations and bruises with a fracture near his eye” and the vicious attack described by Game Warden P. Froy who said “It was a pretty vicious attack. It took him to the ground and apparently was described as biting into this young child. The mom lunged at the mountain lion and before making contact with it, the lion let her son go.”