Ah Wilderness.....
Mountain lions are running amok! Beware mountain lions. Run, as fast as your legs will carry you, there are wild animals out in the ah.....well wild.
The news media has another story of mayhem among us. I've seen mountain lion attack survivors interviewed, mountain lion rescuers interviewed, mountain lion experts interviewed. The talking heads talk with a tsk, tsk atitude. "While bike riding in the Wilderness area, Joe Q. Public, actually encountered a wild animal." How could this happen? Wild animals in the actual wild attacking poor innocent humans. Something must be done. Now unfortunately, I suppose, a vast majority of the new urban America didn't have a clue that mountain lions, coyotes, woodchucks and the like actually exist in close proximity to humans. They do, and not necessarily by the animals choice. We keep building in their habitat and pushing into their natural territory. What do we expect? Especially in California where in the area of the "incident" a goodly part of their natural territory was burned to the ground partly through human inattention.
In Texas the mountain lion population increase has actually been a success story. Hunted to near extinction, the Sonoran Desert version of the lion is slowly starting to repopulate the Big Bend and Davis Mountain regions of the state. After much hard work I might add. And what threat do they present? One study showed that from 1890 to 1990, there were 11 known mortalities by mountain lions in the United States and Canada combined. I dare say that there are that many traffic deaths in Los Angeles a day.
Much like the "sharks are coming" media frenzy of several summers ago, the mountain lion frenzy is utter nonsense. Just another news event about nothing. I'm sorry for the bikers injuries, but if you want to get the "wilderness experience" on your bike.....be ready for it all.
And in another of my five decades of photography series....here's a close encounter wilderness experience of my own:
Yellowstone Bear, 1963
Previous:
Mesa Verde #1
Mesa Verde #2
Mountain lions are running amok! Beware mountain lions. Run, as fast as your legs will carry you, there are wild animals out in the ah.....well wild.
The news media has another story of mayhem among us. I've seen mountain lion attack survivors interviewed, mountain lion rescuers interviewed, mountain lion experts interviewed. The talking heads talk with a tsk, tsk atitude. "While bike riding in the Wilderness area, Joe Q. Public, actually encountered a wild animal." How could this happen? Wild animals in the actual wild attacking poor innocent humans. Something must be done. Now unfortunately, I suppose, a vast majority of the new urban America didn't have a clue that mountain lions, coyotes, woodchucks and the like actually exist in close proximity to humans. They do, and not necessarily by the animals choice. We keep building in their habitat and pushing into their natural territory. What do we expect? Especially in California where in the area of the "incident" a goodly part of their natural territory was burned to the ground partly through human inattention.
In Texas the mountain lion population increase has actually been a success story. Hunted to near extinction, the Sonoran Desert version of the lion is slowly starting to repopulate the Big Bend and Davis Mountain regions of the state. After much hard work I might add. And what threat do they present? One study showed that from 1890 to 1990, there were 11 known mortalities by mountain lions in the United States and Canada combined. I dare say that there are that many traffic deaths in Los Angeles a day.
Much like the "sharks are coming" media frenzy of several summers ago, the mountain lion frenzy is utter nonsense. Just another news event about nothing. I'm sorry for the bikers injuries, but if you want to get the "wilderness experience" on your bike.....be ready for it all.
And in another of my five decades of photography series....here's a close encounter wilderness experience of my own:
Yellowstone Bear, 1963
Previous:
Mesa Verde #1
Mesa Verde #2
