Bill would let hunters target lions
LINCOLN — Nebraska's growing population of mountain lions might soon become the target of hunters.
Under a bill introduced Tuesday in the Nebraska Legislature, the state could establish a hunting season for the predatory big cats.
A lawmaker who has had some first-hand experience with mountain lions, State Sen. LeRoy Loudon of Ellsworth, introduced the bill.
Loudon said a mountain lion once ran across the front yard of his ranch house in rural northwest Nebraska.
Mountain lion sightings have become more common across the state. One was spotted near Seward — west of Lincoln — in November, and earlier that month, a 15-year-old hunter shot one in northeast Nebraska, near Creighton.
The senator said recent studies have shown that mountain lions are breeding and expanding across the Cornhusker State. He said the state should permit hunting to control their population, as South Dakota and Colorado have done.
"There's plenty of them around," Loudon said.
Right now, mountain lions may be legally killed only if threatening people or attacking livestock.
(snip)
The American lion is very territorial and their home areas can range from 25 square miles in Idaho and California to 1000 square miles in western Texas. They mark the boundaries of their home areas with scrapes of earth, leaves, and urine. The cats tend to be active at dawn, dusk, and at night, when they roam their home area search of prey.
Mountain lions are remarkable in their adaptability to a wide range of habitats. Cougars seem equally at home in Alberta’s alpine forests, Arizona’s Sonoran Desert, or Mexico’s tropical jungles. They are found from sea level to 14,765 feet, in the dense forests of the Pacific Northwest, the desert Southwest, and in Florida’s Everglades.
Mountain lions have extraordinary vision and are remarkably fast. From a standing position, mountain lions can jump a vertical distance of up to 15 feet and a horizontal distance of 40 feet. Mountain lions choose deer as prey more than any other animal, but they also feed on wild hogs, raccoons, rabbits and hares, porcupine, and birds.
(snip)
All the same, I worry about my two dogs when they're outside in our fenced yard. They don't stay out long, but our dogs wouldn't last 30 seconds against a mountain lion.
Fortunately they don't like dogs anymore than domestic or smaller wild cats. They'd rather run away. So, unless the dogs corner a cat, the cat will usually split.
In Casper, WY years ago, in town, a poodle put a cat up an apple tree.
Interesting. Thanks for that perspective. Our golden may give a half-hearted bark. Our purebred mutt would be the one doing all the braying. But I ain't even sure about her.
Another perspective though is that case in California a couple of years ago... where a Mountain Lion waltzed in through a screen door that was left open, travelled through the hallways of a home, and than attacked a sleeping lab which was in bed with both homeowners whom were sleeping as well at the time. Talk about one hell of a terrifying awakening :o
There were videos online, showing the path it took through the house and yard, but I'm just finding a news article now.
Fox News, 2008 (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,398502,00.html)
:o
Remind me never to leave French doors open.
I believe it was actually French doors left open, to enjoy a nice evening breeze, that it walked in through! Was one of the wildest encounter stories I've ever heard. I wish I could find the television videos, their bedroom wasn't a direct path to the doorway, terrifying.