I Wondered About That Helicopter...

[Coot]

The one that's been flying around my house all day. Just circling this end of town hour after hour. I was just listening to the news and it seems they're looking for an adult female African lion that's been been spotted near the Reagan Library (http://www.latimes.com/news/local/ventura/la-me-tracks19feb19,1,3948512.story?coll=la-editions-ventura), which as most of you know, is just up the street from my house. Radio news is reporting that this particular cat is leaving 6" paw prints.

An employee at Day Creek Ranch west of the Reagan library on Tuesday reported seeing the hindquarters of a large cat as it darted into bushes.

An inspection of the site the next day uncovered about 100 paw impressions, each about 6 inches wide at the pad, indicating an animal much larger than a mountain lion, which averages closer to 100 pounds, Wintemute said.

Kathy Jenks, director of Ventura County Department of Animal Regulation, suspects that the mystery cat may be linked to the discovery earlier in the month of nearly two dozen exotic cats — including African lions, tigers and Siberian lynx — on a farm in the Tierra Rejada Valley.

Nice neighbors eh? :haha:

[ShinyTop]

They are the cat's meow!

[Piobaireachd]

Yikes! That's a big cat.

I am a little relieved. When I read the subject of your post I was afraid it was going to be something about black helicopters. :)

[Coot]

Well, it looks like they bagged it (http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,200~24652~2728164,00.html). Only it turned out to be a tiger and not a lion. I'm really a bit bummed that they had to kill it. It's not like there's an abundance of these magnificient animals left.

[Steve]

Poor animal was no doubt hungry, disoriented, and frightened.

[Arc]

The tiger was 400 to 600 lbs or so the newsies say. With a cat that big tranqualizer gun is not an option. Sad.

[Coot]

The tiger was 400 to 600 lbs or so the newsies say. With a cat that big tranqualizer gun is not an option. Sad.

Dunno, they take elephants and rhinos down with tranqs. I think the proximity to the 23 freeway and the kids soccer field probably had more to do with the decision...at least I hope it did. A cat that big can cover some ground before the tranquilizer kicks in.

I'm just really not happy that this animal had to be destroyed. I understand the reasoning behind the decision and I guess I'd like to find the buttwipe who thought raising an animal like this in captivity had some kind of merit.

DFG isn't really trained or equipped to deal with something like this, nor should they be, so the fault doesn't lie with them. A much better scenario all the way around would have been for San Diego WAP or LA Zoo to have been involved and done some of the planning and tracking so that this animal could have ended up in their custody alive.

Hindsight eh?

[Arc]

I'm just really not happy that this animal had to be destroyed. I understand the reasoning behind the decision and I guess I'd like to find the buttwipe who thought raising an animal like this in captivity had some kind of merit.


Neither am I.

What I meant about the size was that with a cat that big it was too dangerous to shoot him with a tranquilizer. The dart takes a little while to take effect. In the interim, being struck with the dart would possibly just piss the cat off and if in response he turned to attack given who and what he was he could have done some serious damage. So they couldn't take the risk of shooting him with a dart. The only option was to shoot him.

[Coot]

Or drug a quarter of beef and leave it near by, let him eat it and pleasantly fall asleep.

Seriously though, too many variables with any non-lethal solution, given the area and the level of expertise of the people tasked with the job.

Probably like you, I hope I've passed on when our species no longer shares the planet with the likes of tigers and orangs.

[Stiofán]

They had been leaving traps baited with goat carcasses for about a week. No hits on them. The DFG is taking quite a bit of slack on this today, but it was apparently federal wildlife biologists on the scene who advised them to put the animal down. He was within a few hundred yards of an occupied pre-school as well as the housing tract and shopping center. His official weight was 450 pounds, and a tranq would take about 25 minutes to take effect.

[Plunge]

Feeling bad for the dead tiger is nice and all, but this is just going a bit too far.

http://img51.exs.cx/img51/6788/tigersad0jm.jpg

[Arc]

Feeling bad for the dead tiger is nice and all, but this is just going a bit too far.

http://img51.exs.cx/img51/6788/tigersad0jm.jpg
Why do you think that?

[Stiofán]

Welcome to our little bit of hell here in California.

[cmhbob]

I suppose they'd get upset if I took these guys out then, eh? I'm just guessing, but I think it's a mated pair. That's only about 140 feet from the house, max. It's 60 to the near side of the garage, plus 28 for the garage, then another 50-60 from the garage to the coyote. I really don't want to take them if I don't have to, but I've got 6 kids to worry about, ya know?

[Arc]

I suppose they'd get upset if I took these guys out then, eh? I'm just guessing, but I think it's a mated pair. That's only about 140 feet from the house, max. It's 60 to the near side of the garage, plus 28 for the garage, then another 50-60 from the garage to the coyote. I really don't want to take them if I don't have to, but I've got 6 kids to worry about, ya know?

Perhaps I am interpreting the meaning of the sign differently than you.

The big uproar is not mainly over the fact that the tiger was killed but that it was killed needlessly in this particular case--at least in the opinion of those speaking out. There are other issues too but I think that is a key focus for most who are upset.

I don't think any reasonable person is saying or protesting that the tiger should not have been killed at risk of the loss of human life.

[Stiofán]

At least nobody's calling them "shrill and hysterical" for voicing their opinions.

:lol: :lol: :lol: