HikeArizona.COM

I came across this article while researching mountain lions.

First let me say the link is off a free server (beware the pop ups )

I thought the information may be good reading

The issue:

The Game & Fish Department of Arizona is using scientific fraud to justify the unethical murder of 36 mountain lions in the Four Peaks Wilderness area on the Tonto Forest. Disease introduced by domestic sheep has brought the Big Horn Sheep population at Four Peaks down from 116 to 30 in a four year period. This drastic change could not go ignored, but rather that removing the infectious domestic sheep from our national forest lands (a supposed refuge for wildlife), Game & Fish has blamed the reduction in the Big Horn Sheep population on the Mountian Lion. This is an obvious farce as Mountain Lions have helped to maintain a balance in the wild. The two species actually balance one-another's populations. Adding to the basic biological support, evidence from Game & Fish biologists has proven that the lions are not responsible for the decline in Big Horn Sheep, but Game & Fish has still issued permits for the massacre of those 36 mountain lions, which accounts for 75% of the entire Mountain Lion population in the Four Peaks area! These animals need all the help we can provide to ensure their natural existence in the Four Peaks wilderness. It is not the right of human beings to dominate the existence of life or the processes of the ecosystem. The true source of the Big Horn Sheep devastation will not be corrected because the domestic sheep ranchers hold economic and political clout which ensures that they can continue to graze our public lands (an issue of itself) and that the Big Horn will face extinction on the Tonto.

Our Tactics for Defense

Phoenix Earth First! already held an action before Game & Fish had issued the permits for the extermination on the Tonto. The action slightly raised awareness and made Game & Fish aware of our resistance, now we have to up the stakes. Further actions will be posted, but in the meantime, we plan to disrupt the death of these lions.

Right now, we are living in times of ecological crisis! Our Earth is undergoing the greatest level of species extinction since the demise of the dinosaurs, but unlike their extinction, the current species loss is a human-generated phenomenon. Our home, the Sonoran Desert, is no exception.

The Sonoran Desert is the most lush and biologically diverse desert in the world. No other place on Earth contains unique wildlife such as the saguaro cactus, or the diversity of so many habitat types in one area. It is also one of the fifteen most endangered ecosystems in North America. There has never been a better time, nor a greater need, for people who are willing to take action in defense of the Sonoran Desert.

Phoenix Earth First! is a collective of local conservationists committed to protecting the native biological diversity of Central Arizona, through public education, grass roots community organizing, and direct action. To get involved or to learn of how we can work together to protect our homes, check this site regularly for action updates, and contact Phoenix Earth First! (602)244-9434

Thanks for the link,Joe. I love those beautiful things.That is so sad and unfair.

The Arizona "Repulsive" carried a short article on Friday, May 9 about some Mountain Lion on the Lower Verde below Bartlett Dam. So, there's this camp of people down there and they all of a sudden realize a mountain lion has their dog in its jaws and it trotting blissfully away. Luckily (for them and the dog--but maybe not for the Lion) they are able to scare the lion into dropping the dog.
Apparently this happens twice and some Game and Fish guy speculates it was the work of "one lion" or some such smoke and mirrors hypothesis.

If I was a mountain lion living on the fringe of the metroplex I would prey on all the dumb dogs I could sink my teeth into. Cats, too, fluff ball cream puffs that they are. And I would sit under a mesquite tree thanking humans for bring me a buffet of delicate treats right to my doorstep--or catstep, as the case may be.

It never ceases to amaze us that stories like this make the news. Hello? Camp dogs are EASY prey for mountain lions. Probably there's been far too many times this has happened and the "campers" were too drunk or stoned to realize what was actually going on. They would awake from their stupor the following day and wonder that happend to Fido or Fluffy.

If you travel into a predator's habitat carrying along a "prey species," we sincerely hope you realize that you might not have a "positive outcome." Such is life in the "cat eat dog" world.

Meow

Do you think the mtn. lions would prefer mother-in-laws ?

Whoever wrote that article is not aware of some basic facts.

First off, I'd like to know which disease they're referring to. There have been no reported cases of brucellosis in this state in a very long time, CL is unusual, tuberculosis requires more than casual contact, and all three of those would cause the domestic sheep to be unmarketable. (Carcasses would be condemned immediately.) I'm sure there are others, those are just the ones I'm aware of as being issues ... but specifics please? WHICH diseases?

Name me another common disease that causes mortality in sheep ... besides which, I was unaware that anyone was running sheep in the four peaks region ... ?

Second, lions are not endangered. In spite of some very enthusiastic attempts -- in the 1800's the bounty on a lion was $50 which was good money back then -- lions are still not endangered. They're not GOING to be endangered in this state.

About 300 or so lions are killed a year in this state. There are thousands upon thousands of lions in this state, they have few (no) natural predators except for man, no other population control except for disease and starvation and stupidity (roadkill, young lion gets kicked in the head by an elk, that sort of thing), and the females have 2-4 kittens a year. And numbers have been increasing.

Incidently, to hunt a lion, all you need is 1. a $14 lion tag, 2. a valid AZ hunting license, 3. a hell of a lot of luck and a pack of lion dogs which require skill and money to raise and maintain OR a hell of a lot of luck and a lot of talent imitating the screams of a dying rabbit ...

Lions kill one big game animal every week or so. I daresay a sheep would probably be easier to kill than a deer, as sheep tend to be creatures of habit and follow the same paths -- and in very rough country those paths through the rocks are often limited. if a lion learned a good ambush point, yes, they could do a number on the sheep population very quickly.

The environmental extremists squawk about natural balance. Guess what ... humans have been part of the natural balance in this state for at least the last few tens of millenia. We've been hunting lions (and other big game animals) for aeons ... and things will NOT stay in balance if we stop because we, too, are part of the equation and removing us humans removes a top level predator -- a predator who has enough of a brain to decide when other predators need to be removed to balance things out.

I love lions -- there's one living near me who I've seen once and, when I'm hiking out in the desert here, I find the occasional scrape from. I'm actually glad he's around -- he's done a number on the feral dog population in the area and I was a lot more worried about the dogs than I was about a lion. But he seems to be very wary of people and has never made his presence known to anyone who doesn't really know what they're looking for. ("Look, something pawed twigs and sand over this poor dead deer ...") But I'm also not a romantic about them.

Desert bighorn are a hell of a lot more of a threatened species than lions are. And they ARE on the menu for lions. And Game and Fish is a much more credible organization in my book than Earth First.

Leva

(Done venting now.)

I need to correct myself, I misremembered and just looked it up. The bounty on mountain lions of $50 was in 1919. A bounty remained on them thru 1970. (Though I swear a bounty was offered from the territorial govmn't as well, I just can't find a reference.)

Leva