COUGAR'S DEATH SPURS REWRITING OF GUIDELINES.Byline: Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. The recent fatal shooting of a cougar found in a Valencia back yard has again raised the question of whether game wardens should shoot to kill or use tranquilizer darts. In response to the rising number of confrontations between mountain lions and humans, state game officials are preparing a new set of guidelines to help wardens decide what method to use. But even when the mountain lion is tranquilized, it usually isn't sent back to the woods Back to the Woods (1937) is the 23rd of Columbia Pictures' 190 short subjects starring the comedy team of the Three Stooges. Plot Set in colonial times, the Stooges are convicted criminals who are banished from England to the American colonies. . ``Generally we don't capture and release,'' said Ken Zanzi, assistant chief of wildlife management in the state Department of Fish and Game. Instead, the dart is used to spare humans the trauma of witnessing a mountain being shot to death or risk hitting a human with an errant gunshot. A warden will tranquilize tran·quil·ize or tran·quil·lize v. 1. To make tranquil; pacify. 2. To sedate or relieve of anxiety or tension by the administration of a drug. 3. To become tranquil; relax. 4. the animal and ``then it would be dispatched after that, humanely,'' Zanzi said. The drugged animals are given a lethal injection  This article or section may deal primarily with the U.S. and may not present a worldwide view. or, if no serum is available, they are shot, he said. The issue of how to deal with the burgeoning mountain lion population as humans encroach encroach v. to build a structure which is in whole or in part across the property line of another's real property. This may occur due to incorrect surveys, guesses or miscalculations by builders and/or owners when erecting a building. on their natural habitat continues to pit animal rights activists against farmers and hunters. But at least one animal rights activist admits that finding a safe place for the mountain lions is increasingly difficult. ``There's no wonderful solution,'' said Lynn Sadler, executive director of the Mountain Lion Foundation. State wildlife officials say they must kill the animals because the mountain lion habitat is already overcrowded o·ver·crowd v. o·ver·crowd·ed, o·ver·crowd·ing, o·ver·crowds v.tr. To cause to be excessively crowded: a system of consolidation that only overcrowded the classrooms. . The cougar population has rebounded since hunting of the big cats was banned in 1972. State officials say that putting a cougar into another's territory could spark a fatal fight. In other cases, one lion could be driven out of the wilderness into a populated area, which is probably what began the problem in the first place. In the Valencia incident, a woman saw an 80-pound female mountain lion on her patio Feb. 25. Wardens, using dogs and helicopters, tracked the cougar to a cactus patch in a yard. The lion did not move, even when confronted by the dogs. A game warden killed it with a 12-gauge shotgun. State game officials defended the decision. ``We do have dart guns, but we didn't want this cat running around through the neighborhood,'' said Lt. Tony Warrington. Even some mountain lion advocates declined to criticize the killing. ``It's a tough call,'' said Paul Beier Paul Beier is an american lutenist. He graduated from the Royal College of Music, where he studied with Diana Poulton. He is founding member of the Italian Lute Society, he is a consulting editor of the Lute Society of America Journal. , a wildlife biologist at Northern Arizona University Northern Arizona University (NAU) is a public university in Flagstaff, Arizona in the United States. As of Fall 2007, the university has 21,352 students, 13,989 of these are situated in the main Flagstaff campus<ref name="Enrollment" />. who has studied the large cats. ``From a humane point of view, we would all like to see animals not killed,'' Beier said. ``Still, probably only once in a game warden's career would he have to deal with a mountain lion in a suburban situation. I'm just loath to second-guess what he does.'' |
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