hawks and mountain lions

sunday morning, when daisy and i were out on our morning constitutional, i saw a hawk. it was just sitting on the fence post, doing nothing. it saw daisy and me, walking towards it, then it took flight. it flew right over my head, just about 4 feet above it actually. i was thinking, when did that move into the neighborhood?

last night on our walk, there were two hawks. one was basically chasing the other. it is incredible to have wildlife so close to home.

unfortunately, a mountain lion decided that he needed to come visit a neighborhood in palo alto. i heard about it on the news yesterday morning, but didn’t realize how far in-town that mountain lion was until this morning… he was in a very residential area, less than a mile from the 101. less than 3 miles from my house. unfortunately, the police couldn’t figure out how to contain him without killing him. they shot him out of a tree.

Police said they decided to shoot the mountain lion after consulting with Fish and Game and police departments that have recently dealt with the animals. Authorities say a tranquilizer can take at least 20 minutes to put a lion to sleep, and in the meantime a lion might run off and act erratically. Fish and Game also contends that releasing a tranquilized cat in the wild can lead to its death.

what a shame… even with all the development in northern california, the home i live in was orchards less than 50 years ago. humans invaded the mountain lion’s territory, they shouldn’t be killed because they came home.

that being said, i’m happy that the hawks are around. i just hope they don’t decide daisy would be a decent meal.

*** this just in ***
wayward deer backs up bridge traffic

what is up with all this local nature?

Comments

  1. We’ve had a couple odd stories like that lately in our news. Racoons in classrooms (?), Deer in garbage cans, – its odd. I think we should definitely tread lightly…eek…