Killing Mountain Lions Isn’t the Answer
Re “Mauled Man May Have Been Fixing Bike,” Jan. 10:
Along with every other sensible person in Orange County, I am horrified by the mountain lion attacks on Mark Reynolds and Anne Hjelle in Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park. As a volunteer in Laguna Greenbelt Inc.’s wilderness parks, I know there are wild animals in the parks and respect them and their right to be there. We humans are the intruders.
While I agree that the lion that attacked the bikers had to be destroyed, I am appalled by the comment of Orange County sheriff’s spokesman Jim Amormino that “for now, we will shoot to kill any mountain lion they encounter near the trail.” It is a continuation of the mind-set of the original European invaders of this continent, to kill anyone and anything in their path -- indigenous people, indigenous animals, whatever.
We need a little bit of wilderness around us to remind us that the world isn’t all pavement and pollution. And we need to leave those animals that inhabit it alone.
Diane Finley
Aliso Viejo
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The mountain lion attacked those people because they were in its home. We have moved into the mountain lion’s home by building more homes and businesses.
Killing the lions for sport is not the answer. They are only doing what they need to do to survive because we humans have taken away so much from them already.
Dawn Brown
Huntington Beach
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The hunters’ solution to all problems, regardless of the animal, is additional hunting and killing. It would not occur to them that the so-called rash of mountain lion attacks is a result of increasing habitat pressure, increasing numbers of people using wilderness areas for recreation or diminishing natural prey for the lions.
The ban on “sport hunting” is both necessary and proper if these natural inhabitants of our wilderness areas are to survive. We all want safe recreation, but it is our responsibility to remember that we are encroaching on shrinking habitat and must exercise proper caution.
Philip Glaser
Laguna Niguel
