Here, Kitty Kitty!

June 17 When I moved from the city almost six years ago, I knew I was leaving a bunch of annoyances, only to have new and/or different annoyances out in the countryside. Although some things never change from location to location (barking damn dogs, for instance), I knew I wouldn't have hazards due to vehicular traffic, urban violence and crime, air pollution, etc. On the other hand, storms are more severe here, I'd have a much longer commute to the grocery, and instead of nosy neighbors, I'd have wildlife management issues.

The latter exercised itself pretty early with stupid black bears raiding my apple trees and antlered rats (elk) eating my landscaping and crapping all over the lawn. There were many different birds to see and hear, moles, voles, and rats to deal with, Pacific jumping mice to discover, and I even had my Converse All Stars attacked by miniature weasels in the carport once (I was wearing them at the time). I've spotted a lone coyote a couple of times.

There were a couple of more elusive native residents that I knew must be around, but until a couple of weeks ago when I saw a lynx (bobcat) running away from the hill where the house is, I wasn't sure that these species were active in the neighborhood.

This morning, I was introduced to the last of the big predators. Right in my front yard, not 15 feet from the house was a full-grown Cougar. Also known as a Puma, Mountain Lion, Panther, and several other names, I had seen a very clear paw print in wet, firm mud along the path up to the spring last year. Today, two of my weekend guests from Portland and I got about a ten second view of this big cat as it paused in the yard after being discovered. Then it leaped over the planter at the side of the yard and disappeared into the trees.

I immediately called my neighbor, thinking that it would be good to let others know the we had such wildlife on the loose. Sharon listened patiently, but didn't seem very impressed. Then she told me that the day before, she had been out for her daily walk, and came around a bend in the road to find not one, but two of these felines ahead of her. She walked calmly backwards in the direction she had come with the cats watching her. After getting out of sight back around the bend, she waited for a while, then heard two shots from the other neighbor's house up the road. Convinced that there were now two dead Cougars, she resumed her walk, only to come upon one of the cats just walking up the driveway of the house where the shots rang out. Another shot was heard, but the Cougar didn't really seem to get very excited by it. Apparently, the neighbor had seen the cats hanging around one of his sheds and he decided to move them along by shooting in the air.

I called another neighbor who has delectable goats to let him know to be watchful, then read up on Cougars on the net. Wikipedia was helpful and stated that adult Cougar will never hang around together except in breeding season. It also said that they are nocturnal, and that seeing them be active during the day was an unusual and perhaps alarming development, as the few documented Cougar attacks on humans occurred after the animals were noted exhibiting unusual behavior such as this.

So, at this point, I'm undecided as to how concerned I need to be. We've always known that there was a virtual 100% probability that there were Cougar in these hills, and I confirmed this when I saw the track last year. I've been finding rodent remains in the yard for a couple of weeks now, small piles of guts and intestines, and the chewed-off muzzles of rat or mole-like creatures left uneaten. If I was going to have a run-in with a Mountain Lion, I'd assume that I'd have had it by now.

Still, when I went out to feed the horse and put her in her pasture, I couldn't help but be apprehensive for her sake, and I have to add that the hairs on the back of my neck were standing at attention, in spite of it being only twilight. I guess time will tell, but I know that I am going to recharge the batteries in my Maglite flashlight and make a careful scan of the entire yard before venturing out after dark from now on.

July 3 An update. After a little more than two weeks, I considered that I had maybe seen the last of these particular predators, but this evening, while doing some weeding in the yard, I heard a nasty snarling and small limbs breaking, along with the sound of brush being thrashed just across the south property line. My horse was tied out on a long lunge line at the far end of the yard, near the commotion, and I had to run towards the growling, instead of away. That I had a fearsome grass rake in my hands didn't add to my feeling of security, but my first reaction was to get Camellia and bring her closer to the house for safety. She was standing under some nearby cedar trees, apparently unconcerned.

There have been two adolescent deer, a buck with tiny antlers growing and a smaller doe hanging around the yard a lot for the last week. They were just down the hill on the driveway when I went down with the tractor this morning to clear some limbs that were piled up after doing some clearing. I have a feeling that if the snarling I heard was an attack, then there's a good chance that there's one less deer in the neighborhood.

It's getting to be late evening and I'm trying to figure out what to do with Camellia tonight. I can put her in her pasture, like every other night, or I can shut her in her stall. I don't know that one is any safer than the other. I do know that I'm not planning on going outside after dark. I still get goose bumps every time I recall that growling...