Officer responds to Cougar call...Kills Kitty Cat

[4v50 Gary]

Why, thank you El Rojo. I did take it for granted that most of us are outdoorsy and perhaps this one officer isn't.

Perhaps trips to the zoo should be part of the police academy cirriculum. BTW, we use to go to the Eureka Zoo to eat our lunch. It was different and a fun place to hang out.

 

[nico]

El Rojo, you make some good points. Admittedly, I have never seen a mountain lion. However, I have seen a house cat and I'm almost certain I could tell the difference between a mountain lion and a large, black striped house cat. As for your last point about the cop hitting the cat. The article didn't say how many shots he fired before he hit it

 

[Sergeant Bob]

Mountain lions vary in size and weight, with males being larger than females. Adult males may be more than 8 feet in length and weight an average of 150 pounds. Adult females may be up to 7 feet long and weight an average of 90 pounds.



Colorado Division of Wildlife

Any idiot who can't tell the difference between a 90 to 150 lb mountain lion and a 15 lb house cat should not be on the police force. Even the kids who rode the short bus had picture books. Though he may not be a hunter or outdoorsman, I'm pretty sure he's probably seen a house cat before.

 

[Azrael256]

I'm willing to give this officer the benefit of the doubt and call it an unfortunate accident. It is quite possible that he did not have a clear understanding of just what a cougar looks like, maybe he was a little nervous thinking that a feral cat would attack him, or, as some have stated, maybe it's time for a visit to the opthamologist.

Also, it is worth noting that the folks who called this in mistook it for a cougar. It's not as if Barney Fife went a-huntin' and blasted the first thing that moved, and it doesn't say that he sat down and discussed the situation with the caller before he went after the cat. What are you going to do if a call comes over the radio that there's a (potentially) dangerous animal behind location XYZ, and you suddenly spot what you think might be him? We're not talking about the kind of "oops" that gets a human being killed, we're talking about something that actually resembled the animal he was sent to find.

It was a mistake, plain and simple, and while it's unfortunate that fluffy had to be on the business end of the deal, it's not some great tragedy, and it's not a valid reason for anything more than a good solid smack over the head from the LT.

I do rather like the idea of training the officers in dealing with wild animals. I seem to recall that people are meeting up with wild animals more often now as that city moves into formerly wild areas. You should be prepared for the sorts of things you're going to encounter.

 

[AJ Dual]

Was it daylight?

I could see a scenario at dusk or night where the officer on a "Mountain Lion" call gets a bit suggestable, sees two glowing eyes at indeterminate distance in his flashlight, no chance it's a human at least, and fires.

He is thinking it is two big eyes, far apart at a greater distance, but it is two smaller eyes closer together, and not so far away. .223 being a rather flat-shooting cartridge, the difference is not enough to throw off his shot since it's all inside 100 yards.

Not that it excuses anything. Still a "Rule 3" violation bigtime.

#3 "Know your target, and what lies beyond it"

 

[moa]

Shooting at anything in a built up area is bad mojo. Especially with rifle. I think the cop was irresponsible or a head case.

 

[Bruce H]

I wonder how many training cats will be put in his locker?

 

[4v50 Gary]

Oh yeah, he's going to catch it in the locker room. Meow.

 

[dustind]

 

[Mike Irwin]

Why am I thinking...

"Look out Ned, he's coming right for us!"

Cripes...

 

[STW]

This adds one more bit to my Redlands PD file, started when I lived there as a teenager. One officer I particularly remember carried .38 special and .357 Mag in his revolver 3 and 3. He said he figured on starting with the .38. The .357 was later when the BG(s) would have run further away. You know, it doesn't sound any better now, 30-35 years later.

 

[M1911]

I have Maine Coon Cats. I have one that is 25 pounds at 6 years old.

Wow! That's some cat. My biggest is 15 lbs.

 

[JOE MACK]

Hmm, must be that new breed, Felis Suburbus. They evolve the black stripes as urban camoflage kind of like the cammies. They eat toy puddings..errr poodles and wiener dogs. Interesting, I wanna see some tracks from these alleged sightings. They've gotta make up a name tag that says Bwana for the great lion slayer. The officer might as well move as he's never going to live this down.

 

[QuickDraw]

Just to take a little heat off the cop,the reporting parties don't sound like the sharpest knives in the drawer either!!

QuickDraw

 

[swifter]

I grew up in Redlands. This isn't the dumbest thing a Redlands PD officer ever did.
The department as a whole oughta be issued rubber guns.

Tom

 

[4570Rick]

Which one do I shoot?

 

[Orthonym]

Reminds me of something that happened a few years back,

in Massachusetts, or Connecticut, or one of those places. It seems that someone applied for a job as a policeman, took all of the tests, submitted to all of the background checks, and got super-high scores on the former and squeaky-clean on the latter.


The Chief wouldn't hire him because he got too high a score on the IQ test. I believe the excuse was something like


"Police work is dull and boring, and smart guys will get fed up and quit".

I don't know about the rest of you folks, but if we're going to have policemen, and we're going to have the "laws" we have, I want MY policemen to have

A. A good benevolent heart, and


B. BRAINS!


(Good training and good eyesight wouldn't hurt, either.)

 

[Orthonym]

P.S. , as in Shakespeare got it right the first time.

Think of "Henry V". What did the Dauphin say on the eve of the battle? Was it not something like "I'll eat everything I kill!" That policeman may not have to eat crow, but if I were King, I'd require him to eat cat.

 

[c_yeager]

I am completely willing to accept that the officer has no idea what a mountain lion looks like. Im further willing to stipulate that the guy is about a sharp as a really good spoon. With that said he still souldnt be shooting at things that he cant identify. I cant believe they even gave the goober a rifle in the first place really.

 

[I'mSpartacus!]

Oh for Pete's sake, so the cop shot a big cat! Was it a slow news day? Just forward this to the PETA folk and give them something else to moan about.I personally find no fault in what the cop did.

 

[Orthonym]

It was a SMALL cat, and, more important:

It was the WRONG cat!

 

[Moparmike]

Ill join in the ribbing of the officer...

If he would have been in charge when I first got my beagle, he would have insisted upon using the "Holy Handgrenade of Antioch" instead of a baby beagle for a baby bunny. You know, "Death awaits you with sharp, pointy teeth!!" kind of stuff.


In fact, he probably had that line going through his head as he shot it.

 

[Daniel T]

El Rojo:

I find it amusing how many dieties we have on this board who have never made a mistake before.

My mistakes have never killed anything or anybody.

 

[dustind]

Oh for Pete's sake, so the cop shot a big cat! Was it a slow news day? Just forward this to the PETA folk and give them something else to moan about.I personally find no fault in what the cop did.

How can you not find fault? Shooting a kitty instead of a Couger. I would be pissed if that was my pet.

 

[El Rojo]

Well his killed a cat. I hope your next mistake doesn't kill something or you will most certainly be an idiot not fit to ever own a firearm again. Or you might just be a human who is prone to error and having made mistakes myself, you won't get a bunch of ridicule from me. Your own remorse should be sufficient, unless your mistake broke a law and in that case you would also face some jail time.

Anyway. I too was just thinking, what time of the day was it. Did he just shoot at the glowing eyes?

Animal control officers were sent to a home in the 1500 block of Crestview Road about 11:30 a.m.

Nope.

Yeah I find it pretty hard to believe the dude shot a house cat, but hey stuff happens. I still think it is likely he won a bet or put another notch on the stock of his AR. Just think a serial cat killer! I used to chase posums around on my bike when I worked for the UCLA police department. If they had given me an AR, I would have had confirmed kills all over the place. Possums, wild cats, the hordes of evil ground squirrels. I used to day dream while walking the 20 minutes from my car to class about the day when the entire campus would just be deserted, everyone gone except me, the squirrels, and the possums. That would be a heck of a day.