11 year old girl shoots cougar tracking her brother

[Yo Mama]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/02/2...ougar-tracking-her-brother/?intcmp=latestnews

Amazing! She has a tag for cougars, and was able to put it down before it got to her family. This little girl is awesome!

 

[Art Eatman]

Not just the girl, but the other kids as well. Three in a week? Wow! And one more hanging around.

 

[sage5907]

It's sad that the animal was so small and apparently unhealthy. The story would have been better if it had weighed 150 pounds.

 

[Art Eatman]

Then again, ending any suffering for a sick animal strikes me as a good thing.

 

[IdahoLT1]

I'd much rather keep the healthy, 150lb lion in the wild rather than a sick one. It helps keep the ungulate populations healthy.

 

[Art Eatman]

Aside from the issue of livestock predation, having a cougar hanging around a house is not a Good Thing. Little kids are the right size for cougar yum-yums, as are household pets.

Out in "the wild"? Sure, all well and good.

But predation can cost a good bit of $$$. A neighbor of mine had a cougar get into his goat pen and kill eight or so goats. Texas Parks & Wildlife released a cougar with a radio collar in the Black Gap WMA. Two days later and seventy miles north, that cat killed over a dozen sheep in a rancher's pen near Marathon. The rancher told TP&WD to come get their kitty, but not be in a big hurry since the cat wasn't going anywhere.

Two of the cougar attacks in Big Bend National Park were on little children who were in front of the family group.

 

[IdahoLT1]

Agreed that mountain lions being mountain lions near humans/livestock is no bueno. The importance of predator management will vary from State to State. Id wager its more important for a State like Texas(with 96% of its territory being private property) than it is for a State like Idaho(with 30% of its territory being private property).

 

[brainwake]

I tell you what...When you hear a large cat growl in the woods...it puts more fear into you than you realize. Those are some no joke predators. Quickly you learn how close other predators are to the top of the food chain,.

 

[Martin12]

Yeah, I'd be wondering if a lion was comin at me full pelt whether it would be my rifle that fired or something else (back) fired instead. Most certainly not a choice scenario!

 

[hartcreek]

It sure make you think twice when you are hunting in snow and you cut back on your trail and find BIG cat tracks following your boot tracks.

 

[Art Eatman]

Several reliable reports in my area of people hunting or hiking and "feeling" that they were not alone. Backtrailing showed cougar sign. Footprints in sand, or grass springing back up in a cougar footprint.

They seem to be curious about "trespassers", even with no intent to go for a meal.