The Beast in the Garden: A Modern Parable of Man and Nature.

Discussions about nature and culture are imperative where large carnivores are concerned. Author David Baron begins to explore these important ideas in The Beast in the Garden: A Modern Parable of Man and Nature (Beast in the Garden. (B1) While his premise shows promise, the execution lacks vigor. Instead of a treatise carefully based on well-reasoned conclusions of fact, where subjective sources are objectively interrogated, and where declaratory statements are well documented, Beast in the Garden exhibits fundamental deficiencies. Indeed, a narrative form of writing, while engaging (and an obviously effective sales device), can lead to evidentiary problems. (B2) Narratives oversimplify and historians now avoid them. As historian John Tosh writes, "[b]ecause B came after A does not mean that A caused B, but the flow of the narrative may easily convey the impression that it did." (B3) Tosh also notes that narratives only allow the writer to "keep no more than two or three threads going at once," resulting in a narrowing of causes and effects. (B4) In other words, narratives can result in under-analytical outcomes. (B5) Moreover, in scientific methodology, the investigator acquires knowledge supported by empirical data gathered through observation and experimentation. Scientists often review information from other researchers to understand the theoretical context of their own inquiry. An investigation based on hearsay or anecdotal evidence counters the scientific method.

Without a doubt, Baron spent considerable energy researching and interviewing in preparation to write Beast in the Garden. His engaging style and descriptive language keeps one turning the pages, but unfortunately his methodologies cause the quality of his arguments to suffer. In this debate about humans and lions, science, history, and culture, I offer these final words.

Baron still has failed to prove his fundamental thesis: that a Boulder-based lion killed Lancaster. Baron writes in A Response to Mountain Lions, Myths, and Media that dispersing subadult lions generally travel an average distance of 50 miles from their natal areas (in search of their own home range). (B6) Indeed, if one were to draw a 50-mile circumference around Idaho Springs, Boulder would be Included. Suitable lion habitat, however, exists nearly all the way around Idaho Springs' 50-mile radius. Because people did not shoot lions or deer in and around Boulder in the 1980s or 1990s, it does not follow, as Baron contends, that a Boulder lion trekked to Idaho Springs and killed Scott Lancaster.

The 1980s Sanders and Halfpenny Boulder lion count, upon which Baron relies, remains controversial. To empirically census lions, one must capture them (using dog packs, traps, or snares), mark them (usually with radio collars), and then follow and observe them. In their "study," Sanders and Halfpenny relied on eye-witness accounts (which are notoriously erroneous), and track counts (an experimental methodology). (B7) Baron also cannot prove that Scott Lancaster's death was the result of changing management practices--over a century's time--and that lions themselves changed their behavior because many Boulderites (not unlike many Front Range Colorado communities) do not hunt.

Also, Baron claims that Boulder historically "participated in [the] frenzy of [lion] killing." (B8) In Beast in the Garden, Baron identified only one bountied lion, killed in 1891, (B9) and in his response to my critique, he provides us with four more cats in the sixteen years between 1869 and 1885 (B10)--one cat for every four years. Five carcasses cannot shore up his emphatic declaration, neither from a scientific nor a historical perspective. (B11)

In Beast in the Garden, Baron declares--without citation--that "ancient Indians may have come closer to exterminating the species than twentieth century lion hunters." (B12) In his response, Baron provides the much-needed reference. (B13) The authors of that paper indeed argue that puma populations declined in North America and data indicate a probable genetic bottleneck during the Pleistocene. They do not say, however, that humans caused the collapse in puma population and genetic variability. Instead, they write, "[t]he cause of this near global event is still uncertain." (B14) The causes of genetic and population collapse can be from several factors, including over-hunting of the puma's prey species by man; competition between pumas and other predators such as saber-toothed cats, cheetahs, and dire wolves; climate change; or the advent of new diseases brought from the Old World across the Bering Strait that could have caused a decline in either prey populations or puma populations. (B15)

Did Boulder's permissive response to wildlife contribute to Lancaster's death? Yes, argues Baron. In his response, he writes that Lancaster was "sacrificed" by people, but "not the cougar" itself. (B16) Baron rightfully clarifies that his metaphor was between Aztecs and Boulderites, and not Aztecs and lions, as I had claimed. Nevertheless, Baron failed to clear the air where it comes to murderous intent and giving the lion anthropogenic qualities. He writes in Beast in the Garden that the lion performed a "ghoulish backwoods surgery, "removed [the] victim's face," "sprinkled moss and twigs," (B17) and belabors the point that the cat ate Lancaster's heart. (B18) In fact, he calls the lion a "murderer." (B19)

In Western culture, the dominant society has always exhibited considerable angst where large predators are concerned because predators can sometimes kill people or domestic livestock, or compete for desirable prey, such as deer. Baron exploited that concern and, unfortunately, an uncritical media telegraphed his message exponentially. Yet, mountain lions and other native carnivores play crucial roles in large ecosystems. Without them, ecosystem function and biological diversity decline.

It is critical that humans manage large carnivores and their habitats with sustainability as a key objective. We must target individual animals that are potentially dangerous, not entire populations. Yet our insatiable appetite for more and more pristine lands will continue to create havoc between humans and lions. Baron and I agree that talking about, promoting education for, and neither romanticizing nor hating native carnivores can alleviate conflicts and promote stewardship. But we must act swiftly because large carnivores, both terrestrial and aquatic, are fast disappearing on a global scale.

(B1) DAVID BARON, THE BEAST IN THE GARDEN: A MODERN PARABLE OF MAN AND NATURE (2004).

(B2) TWO events catapulted interest in Beast in the Garden. in January 2004, a mountain biker was killed by a lion in California, and the book played to America's obsession with the "culture of fear" following the attacks of September 11th. Both Homeland Security's color-coded alerts and athletes devoured by lions caused considerable unrest. Who can be safe when elusive, cryptic assailants prowl at every turn?

(B3) JOHN TOSH, THE PURSUIT OF HISTORY 97 (Dd ed., Pearson Education 

Limited 2000).

(B4) Id.

(B5) Id. at 96-98.

(B6) David Baron, A Response to Mountain Lions, Myths, and Media, 35 ENVTL. L. 1095 (2005).

(B7) For a discussion about the validity of eye witness reports, see Kenneth A. Logan, The Beast in the Garden: A Modern Parable of Man and Nature, 68 J. OF WILDLIFE MGMT. 734 (2004) (book review). For a discussion about using track counts to measure puma populations, see Walter Van Sickle & Frederick Lindzey, Evaluation of a Cougar Population Estimator Base on Probability Sampling, 55 J. OF WILDLIFE MGMT. 738 (1991). Kenneth Logan and Linda Sweanor write, "A puma population estimator involving sampling puma tracks on snow from a helicopter has been tested but found to be imprecise." KENNETH A. LOGAN & LINDA L. SWEANOR, DESERT PUMA: EVOLUTIONARY ECOLOGY Of AN ENDURING CARNIVORE 383 (2001) (citation omitted).

(B8) Baron, supra note 6, at 1097.

(B9) BARON, supra note 1, at 32, 99.

(B10) Baron, supranote 6, at 1098.

(B11) Id at 1097-98 (arguing that Keefover-Ring questioned whether the United States was involved in killing large numbers of carnivores). To clarify, in Mountain Lions, Myths, andd Media I wrote, "Baron's statement [concerning lion eradication in Boulder] seems reasonable given that the dominant American culture before 1960 generally believed that large carnivores ... were evil and ravenous." Wendy J. Keefover-Ring, Mountain Lions, Myths, and Media, 35 ENVTL. L. 1083, 1086 (2005). My point is that Baron made a specific strong claim but uncovered tittle evidence as support.

(B12) BARON, supra note 1, at 161.

(B13) Baron, supra note 6, at 1097 n.12 (citing M. Culver et al., Genomic Ancestry of the American Puma (Puma concolor), 91 J. HEREDITY 183, 186-197 (2000) (discussing the DNA structure of the North American puma population. Culver et al. predict that North American pumas disappeared in the late Pleistocene, but the continent was recolonized by a few South American individuals, which became the founders of a new North American puma population. M. Culver et al., Genomic Ancestry of the American Puma (Puma concolor), 91 J. HEREDITY 183, 196 (2000).

(B14) M. Culver et al., Genomic Ancestry of the American Puma (Puma concolor), 91 J. HEREDITY 183, 196 (2000).

(B15) Telephone Interview with Jeffry Mitton, Professor of Biology, University of Colorado, in Boulder, Colo. (Sept. 8, 2005). Professor Mitton, a DNA expert, explains that all of these myriad of factors could have contributed to a decline in the puma population 12,000 years ago. Id Professor Mitton explains that disease is an important vector. Id. Disease helped Europeans in their bid to eradicate native peoples in the New World, and coyotes carrying fleas can be the inadvertent carriers of plague that causes some rodent populations to decline. Id.

(B16) Baron, supra note 6, at 1096.

(B17) BARON, supra note 1, at 6.

(B18) Id. at 12, 205.

(B19) Id. at 205.

WENDY J. KEEFOVER-RING *

* [C] Wendy J. Keefover-Ring, 2005. Director, Carnivore Protection Program, Sinapu; M.A., 2002, History, University of Colorado at Boulder.

David Baron *

* [C] David Baron, 2005. B.S. 1986, summa cure laude, Yale University. Three-time recipient of the American Association for the Advancement of Science journalism award. A twenty-year veteran of public radio, reporting on science and the environment for National Public Radio and for the PRI/BBC program The World