Sunday, April 25, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

VIN SUPRYNOWICZ: If it's a threat .. shoot the cat

It's been 10 years since 40-year-old Barbara Schoener was mauled to death by a nursing 80-pound cougar while jogging on a secluded mountain trail about 45 miles northeast of Sacramento. (Schoener was one of two women killed by cats on California hiking trails that year.)

The cat was tracked down and killed.

In California, the incident led to an extraordinary outpouring of empathy ... for the cat. In his book, "Ecology of Fear," Mike Davis reports sympathizers reportedly donated twice as much to a fund for the lion's orphans than to the fund for Schoener's two small (human) children.

On 20 March, 1998, 27-year-old free-lancer Scott Fike -- who stands 6 feet 4 -- was pedaling his bike up a fire road just above Pasadena when a large mountain lion began loping along beside him. Fike tried to use his bike as a shield, but the cat bit the bike, chased him down the hill, and bit him several times before he made his escape. His wounds were superficial -- he suffered worse from the case of poison oak he contracted while rolling down the hill.

An anti-lion vigilante group sent Fike, who opposes cougar hunting, a T-shirt with the now-standard exhortation "Shoot, Shovel and Shut Up."

The newspapers were soon full of analyses of why such things happen -- mankind's housing settlements are expanding into traditional mountain lion terrain.

But the other problem is that it's now politically incorrect to hunt the big cats in California. In fact, Californians passed Proposition 117 in 1990, banning the "sport hunting" of cougars.

California game wardens now visit elementary schools, advising children to stand still, wave their arms and shout when they encounter one of these deadly predators.

It's good advice as far as it goes -- the animal is far more likely to take a small human for prey if it tries to run away. But shouldn't the kids yell something else, first? Something like, "Daddy, shoot the cat"?

For most absurdly of all, the pathetic bedwetters who have taken over the state of California have made it almost entirely illegal to carry a firearm for self-defense in precisely the places citizens are most likely to have this kind of unpleasant encounter -- the state's parks and recreation areas.

Here in Southern Nevada, five mountain lions have been spotted near inhabited areas of northwest Las Vegas since late February, as males born on Mount Charleston a year ago are leaving their mothers and seeking their own territories.

Earlier this month, a 5-foot-tall female bank employee who lives near the corner of Town Center and Covington Cross drives in Summerlin reported spotting a big cat in the parking lot. "I just froze because I didn't know what to do," the woman reported.

Mark Christiansen, principal at the Staton Elementary School on Sageberry Drive, wrote a letter to parents about the cat sightings:

"We wanted to inform you that we took immediate action, including securing the area, bringing PE classes into the building, alerting staff and monitoring students closely."

Now, I have nothing against these majestic creatures. I'm glad we live in a part of the world where we can still see such animals, and I'm not recommending that anyone go out to stalk and kill them -- certainly not without a proper tag.

But here's what you should do if a mountain lion is on your property, and you are legitimately concerned that it might attack, kill or injure you, your children, your pets or your livestock: Shoot it.

If no one on our school campuses is in possession of a shotgun for this purpose, no, they have not taken every reasonable precaution to deal with such incidents.

Yes, it's technically illegal to discharge a firearm in close proximity to an occupied building. But as the old saying goes, better to be tried by 12 than see your child carried by six. Even Supervising game warden David Pfiffner of the Nevada Division of Wildlife says it's OK to shoot a cat that presents a threat. "If it's endangering people or property" he said, "your chickens or your dogs, you don't need a tag."

Whether the animals can be tranquilized and relocated is decided on a case-by-case basis, Pfiffner explains. The cat that was killed last year near El Capitan and Cheyenne "had been eating kitty cats for several days," he says. When the cat was darted, "It took off. Now you can say, 'Wait and see if it works,' but these animals can cover a lot of ground in a hurry. He was looking for something to eat, and he was used to the human environment. No way am I going to put a child's life at risk" by losing track of such an animal. "Our primary goal is the public safety."

We live in the desert West. The best thing to do when you see a mountain lion at a distance is indeed ... nothing -- pretty much the same thing we do when we see a coyote enjoying a midnight snack out of a Burger King bag in the local Smith's parking lot at 2 a.m.

If you're armed -- as you ought to be -- you can safely shoo the creature away, confident that you retain another option if it should turn ornery.

But for that one time in 50 when the animal is thinking "lunch" and moving toward you, your household or your family, let's stop teaching our children that waving their hands in the air and shouting "go away, kitty cat" is really the first and best option.

The first and best option is to yell, "Daddy, shoot the lion."

With a shotgun, ideally -- though a handgun will do fine in an emergency.

If you want official help, Warden Pfiffner recommends you call 911 ... or his offices at 486-5127, or wildlife dispatch at 775-688-1331, a toll call.

"The 911 operators have all our pager numbers and they've been advised to transfer the calls to us," he says. "They've now been advised it's a high priority. If the cat is threatening, call."

But if that doesn't work fast enough ... shoot the cat.

Vin Suprynowicz, the Review-Journal's assistant editorial page editor, is author of "Send in the Waco Killers." His column appears Sunday.