Fish and Game officials explained that killing the animals a necessary because they posed a danger to residents in the area. The cougars were estimated to weigh about 25 to 30 pounds.
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| Janice Mackey |
Neighbors first observed the two cougars on Friday, hiding in the bushes near the end of Correas Street. Mark Andermahr noticed one of the lions hiding underneath his garage, and he observed they were scared of him and especially the barking dogs in the neighborhood. The lions scattered when he approached to snap to photo.
“I kept my cat in the house,” he said. “They didn’t act aggressive … but I wasn’t going to put food in my hand and offer it to them.”
San Mateo County Sheriff’s deputies initially reported the lions were only cubs and about two months old. Fish and Game officials described the animals as older, about 10 months old, around the age when the young animals leave their mother to set out on their own. There was no sign of their mother anywhere in the area.
Sheriff’s deputies and wardens from California Fish and Game patrolled the area on Friday night. The team tried to leave an open corridor to allow the animals to escape back into the wilderness.
But on Saturday morning, neighbors on the same block reported the lions had returned to hiding near their homes. Fish and Game officials interpreted that as a sign the lions could be habituated to being near humans.
Mackey said the wardens had no opportunity to tranquilize the animals. The animals could have run off and posed a danger before the sedative took effect, she said.
Alternatively, [according to Mackey] the wardens couldn’t approach to use a “poke stick” tranquilizer spear to pacify the animals.
By Saturday evening, wardens reportedly decided they had no choice but to kill the cougars. Both animals were shot with an unspecified firearm.
[Hmm, how about putting some tranquilizers in some meat and throwing it to them under the house? If you don't scare them, they're not going to go anywhere. Anyone bother to bring a humane trap out to them?
Sounds like these wardens were trigger-happy and tired of dealing with these cubs and figured the sooner they killed them, the sooner they could go home.]
News that the animals were [killed] came a surprise to neighbors in the area. Many initially believed the animals were tranquilized and removed from the area.
“It’s too bad they had to do that,” Andermahr said. “I wouldn’t want them hanging out here, but I wish they could have taken them somewhere else.”
Fish and Game officials are in the process of performing a necropsy of the cougars to determine more about their activities.
(Half Moon Bay Review - Dec 6, 2012)
