"Bob Ward" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 01 Sep 2006 05:46:56 GMT, "Calif Bill"
wrote:


The Calif. F&G is full of **** also. Look at the bad science and the
MLPA's. Bought and paid for by Environazis! Walnut Creek has been a
large
population center for years, backing up to Mt. Diablo. Why are these
lions
no danger to the populace? They do not like Burb people? Pleasanton
Ridge
has several lions. Lots of hikers and bikers. and is between Pleasanton
with 80,000 people and Hayward with even more.


Show us the facts. EXACTLY how many people can you demonstrate have
been attacked in the area you are blathering about?


The fact that both of you are acting as flaming assholes hardly negates the
need for rational discussion lions.

First, as with a dozen other noticeable species, the puma/cougar/lion has
altered its behavior in recent years, over time adjusting itself lifestyle
and range to the presence of humans - not to the extent that coyotes have -
but in essence beginning to reclaim range it had once abandoned. Food
sources obviously play a part in the "re-spread" of lion habitat and the
growth in the number of lions about. Hunting likely never diminished the
number of lions as much as did loss of habitat, and "learning"/adapting to
new "dietary supplements" helps keep cubs alive and able to grow into
adulthood and reproduce (although finding a mate remain desperately
difficult for many lions, isolated by their solitary habits).

Generally speaking, lions are unlikely to seek close contact with people,
and given their coloration and stealth, folks could walk within a few feet
of a lion, never aware of its presence.

There are some ringers which may cause that equation to imbalance.

A female with cubs nearby may react in a fashion quite different from
"normal".

Any lion which as spent much of its life in proximity to frequent human
activity may, just as even gentle pets do, lash out defensively at a human
who appears as threatening. Why a lion perceives a specific individual or
instance as threatening, we don't know. Ask the lions. I've not know any
"Lion Whisperers" of repute in that area.

Some "experts" have with reason claimed that lions see joggers and bike
riders as something other than humans, the rapid movement or the vehicle
altering the appearance, causing the lion to view the rider or runner as
potential prey.

Others view these sort of attacks in simpler perspective, that runners and
riders confront less than wary lions more quickly than us simple plodders
wandering about, obviously human by our smell and not fast enough to be
athreat. By Golly, I might bite a bike rider who arrived unannounced on my
porch as I was napping during the day in the warm sun, a lionish thing to
do.

The inevitable result....More people in more places added to some resurgence
in lion population along with reclamation of former range simply means there
will be more attacks, and with a video cam, station vehicle and helo waiting
breathlessly for every human or animal tragedy, the events will be covered.

TM "Don't bike with pumas, and don't send your three year old out to play
with the coyotes either." Oliver