If you were attacked by an animal in its natural habit, would you put it down?

I just watched a news story about a mountain lion who chased a dog into a house via the doggy door, and then mauled the three dogs in the home, while the mother and children were in there. They're ok, and all three dogs lived, but the cops took the mountain lion down. It was tranquilized, but they still destroyed it... It just doesn't seem right to me. The mountain lion's home is in the mountains. If you put a house into the mountains, well.. it's an environmental hazard. Yes, tranquilze the animal.. but even if it killed someone, I still don't think it should be destroyed. It's only doing what it does naturally, in its own habitat, so who are we to kill these creatures? Just isn't right....

Emotions and instincts will decide that.

Edit: not so much instincts

... And by destroying the mountain lion, i believe we are doing what is only natural to us?BiancaDK

You make a good point, but the mountain lion could always come back. A solution could be to put it in a zoo, maybe. Just a thought.

I won't sit and let it eat me but I won't go on some Mobydick type quest for revenge either.

You make a good point, but the mountain lion could always come back. A solution could be to put it in a zoo, maybe. Just a thought.

cheesyjon

You make a good point, but the mountain lion could always come back. A solution could be to put it in a zoo, maybe. Just a thought.

cheesyjon

[QUOTE="BiancaDK"]... And by destroying the mountain lion, i believe we are doing what is only natural to us?JustPlainLucas

I won't sit and let it eat me but I won't go on some Mobydick type quest for revenge either.

Evil_Saluki

I think the natural habitat argument flew out the window when the cougar went into the house. IIRC cougars are pretty territorial and generally avoid contact with humans; so not only was the cougar behaving oddly, but if released it could very well come back (and for all we know, next time it'll go after the kids instead of the dogs).

I think the natural habitat argument flew out the window when the cougar went into the house. IIRC cougars are pretty territorial and generally avoid contact with humans; so not only was the cougar behaving oddly, but if released it could very well come back (and for all we know, next time it'll go after the kids instead of the dogs).

PBSnipes

[QUOTE="BiancaDK"]... And by destroying the mountain lion, i believe we are doing what is only natural to us?JustPlainLucas

Most wild animals tend to avoid humans. Predators that will go near their homes and such oftentimes end up being repeat offenders. Frankly, if I lived there and a lion came into my house I certainly would not want them releasing it right back into my area. In America most of the animals considered dangerous have long since been driven out of a lot of areas, which I think people take for granted. It's easy to say, "That's what happens when you live in the mountains," but the only reason there aren't dangerous predators everywhere else is that so many of them were hunted down.

So many domestic animals are put down every day because shelters don't have room for them and everyone wants to get a puppy or a kitten instead of adopting. People put apes in cages and give them terrible diseases and make them live miserable lives so that they can theoretically maybe come up with some kind of cure some day. The way animals are treated in some of these factory farms today is nothing short of disgusting. Even modern vegetable farming tends to use equipment which is highly dangerous to any animals that happen to be in the fields. I think killing a wild mountain lion that entered someone's home is far more acceptable than so many of the everyday occurrences that people just accept as being normal.

It wasn't really my initial intent to sound so preachy. Anyway, you can always look at it this way: That mountain lion was just going to give a bunch of other animals an unpleasant demise itself. :P

No I wouldn't. It's just not right.

I botched my quote... forget it. Too tired to redo it.

The dogs vs cougar. The cougar was probably forced to forage further, beacause of lack of prey in its territory. Possibly, the cougar mistook the dog for something else. But the danger to humans from a cougar is quite high. There are stories of cougars attacking humans, some killing the animal, others dying.As in the case of bears, if thery know of a bear that repeadtly mauls humans, they will go find it and kill it. My point is that if this is a cougar that got into this hose, who knows hat will happen when the cougar knows where its prey (and potential other prey; humans in this case) and tries to return? The animal control made a good choice. Not sayuing its the right choice, all the time, but in this case, they did the right thing.

Speaking of cougar attacks, just recently, there was a news story of a Golden Retriever saving a 10 year old boy's life. The boy was outside, playing around, or doing something for his mom (I don't remember) and the dog was with him. The dog very suddenly began to act strange, following the boy around, kinda bumping him away from a shed that was in the yard. The boy was pushed down by the dog, and the cougar came out from under something in the shed. The dog took on the cougar, whlie the boy ran in and told his mom, who called police. They came and shot the cougar, as the cougar was worrying the gog's throat under the porch. The dog lived with a few injuries of course, and the boy was unharmed.

I botched my quote... forget it. Too tired to redo it.

JustPlainLucas

The dogs vs cougar. The cougar was probably forced to forage further, beacause of lack of prey in its territory. Possibly, the cougar mistook the dog for something else. But the danger to humans from a cougar is quite high. There are stories of cougars attacking humans, some killing the animal, others dying.As in the case of bears, if thery know of a bear that repeadtly mauls humans, they will go find it and kill it. My point is that if this is a cougar that got into this hose, who knows hat will happen when the cougar knows where its prey (and potential other prey; humans in this case) and tries to return? The animal control made a good choice. Not sayuing its the right choice, all the time, but in this case, they did the right thing.

Speaking of cougar attacks, just recently, there was a news story of a Golden Retriever saving a 10 year old boy's life. The boy was outside, playing around, or doing something for his mom (I don't remember) and the dog was with him. The dog very suddenly began to act strange, following the boy around, kinda bumping him away from a shed that was in the yard. The boy was pushed down by the dog, and the cougar came out from under something in the shed. The dog took on the cougar, whlie the boy ran in and told his mom, who called police. They came and shot the cougar, as the cougar was worrying the gog's throat under the porch. The dog lived with a few injuries of course, and the boy was unharmed.

Calvin079

Well, there could be any number of reasons why the cougar felt he had to go after the dog. Maybe the lion couldn't find any food and had to go after the first thing he saw, obviously desperate enough to enter a house. Or, maybe he lost a territory dispute, which forced him to wander out and discover the house.

JustPlainLucas

But the fact remains it's a dangerous animal that was acting oddly and in a way that potentially endangers the public. Releasing it simply isn't worth the risk.

Naw man. Putting down a cleric animal is just wrong.

^ why is it wrong, pray tell?

cougars are fairly territorial, so it's likely that either the house was very close to its territory, or had to go further out in search of food. if it was tranquilized and put back, it would simply go back to its territory and would probably find the house again, resulting in the same problem or possibly worse. so that basically leaves them with 2 options, kill it or relocate it. if youre looking at it objectivley, you have a dangerous, violent animal that has no fear of humans and would be a big hassle to find a home for. not saying killing it was really the right choice, but it's not the wrong choice either.

hypothetically speaking, you have a choice of weapons, and that cougar is ready to leap. What weapon do you grab? Just for curiosity's sake.

I just watched a news story about a mountain lion who chased a dog into a house via the doggy door, and then mauled the three dogs in the home, while the mother and children were in there. They're ok, and all three dogs lived, but the cops took the mountain lion down. It was tranquilized, but they still destroyed it... It just doesn't seem right to me. The mountain lion's home is in the mountains. If you put a house into the mountains, well.. it's an environmental hazard. Yes, tranquilze the animal.. but even if it killed someone, I still don't think it should be destroyed. It's only doing what it does naturally, in its own habitat, so who are we to kill these creatures? Just isn't right....

JustPlainLucas

When a mosquito bites you, do you slap it?

Anyway, here's the thing...usually when you hear about an animal eating or mauling someone, it was in some way provoked by a human. Either the human was teasing/prodding it in some way, or otherwise engaging in behavior that basically amounts to "asking to be eaten". Once animals start breaking into peoples' freaking homes to attack people/pets, they need to get killed. Once animals start hanging out on biking trails in a deliberate attempt to prey upon bikers, then they need to get killed.

Most bears/mountain lions/etc don't do that. The ones that DO do that need to be killed.

Anyway, it depends on a case-by-case basis whether or not an animal should be killed for attacking a human. If an alligator eats you because you took a dip in waters that are known to be infested by alligators, then let the animal live. It's not really posing a threat, the only reason it got you is because you were a dumbass. Meanwhile, if you've got ONE alligator that habitually walks to non gator-infested waters because it knows that it'll have an easy time eating people, then you kill the hell out of it. Depends on the details of the case.

[QUOTE="cheesyjon"]

You make a good point, but the mountain lion could always come back. A solution could be to put it in a zoo, maybe. Just a thought.

JustPlainLucas

Probably will return. Most mountain lions do not actively hunt humans, and certainly don't usually break into peoples' homes. A mountain lion that does this (unprovoked) is thinking one thing: it's easier to catch humans than it is to catch other prey.

And there's a difference between an isolated attack and an animal becoming a bona-fide maneater. Once an animal starts viewing humans as prey, and starts venturing out of its habitat to hunt humans, then it needs to die.

[QUOTE="PBSnipes"]

I think the natural habitat argument flew out the window when the cougar went into the house. IIRC cougars are pretty territorial and generally avoid contact with humans; so not only was the cougar behaving oddly, but if released it could very well come back (and for all we know, next time it'll go after the kids instead of the dogs).

JustPlainLucas

I fail to see how that means that the animal shouldn't be killed.

It's not being killed because it's a bad. mountain lion. It's being killed because it's going imto peoples homes and attacking families.

Whether the root cause was desperation or not isn't really the issue. It's still going into peoples' homes and attacking families.