[pct-l] Mountain lions and Fear

[rubberchuckie at yahoo.com (Chuckie V)]

        For those of you fearful of the stalking mountain lion, or the bear and her brood, or the striking rattlesnake, or the curious scorpion inside your boot, or the hungry ticks and mosquitoes, or the unpredictable tree-fall or the massive coulter pine cone plummeting from the sky, or the instantaneous flash of lightning, or the onset of hypothermia or the peril of giardiasis, the PCT is not a place for you. Stay at home where the comfort of this forum is close at hand. 
   
  Most PCT hikers understand these fears and relate to them more closely by confronting them on the trail.
   
  I've studied the mountain lion matter closely over the last ten to twelve years (unbelievably, a woman whom I'd known was killed by a lion in '94 in my hometown) and it is true that encounters between man and mountain lion have increased in recent years. It is also true that cougar populations have also increased.
   
  The reason for the increase in encounters is as simple as this: When food sources become scarce animals become less scarce. Also take into account that man is encroaching as fast as ever, and there is little to speculate about.
   
  As far as the lion's increase in numbers, the biggest single reason is that man once decimated their population to near extinction. It's estimated that five to six-hundred of the animals lived in California in the early 1900's. Since then, more accurate estimates, based on field studies, revealed a population of more than two thousand mountain lions in the 1970's. Today's numbers range between five and six-thousand. In 1990, voters here in California passed Proposition 117 to protect mountain lions from hunting. Naturally, populations have grown ever since hunting was banned.
   
  And while a mountain lion's "natural" enemies include other large predators such as bears and, at one time in California, wolves, and even wild boars, they still fall victim to man mostly. While you cannot legally hunt for one, a rancher can still kill indiscriminately if a lion is discovered "trespassing" and many lions are killed in "accidents" along roadways and in traps.
   
  My personal belief for the rising number of attacks has to do with revenge. The poor beast has seen those around him fall into extinction and she wonders when her time is next. When your back is against the wall, the fight or flight equation is cut in half.