The survival of our native mountain lions ("cougars"), as well as our native bobcats (plus certain other species) is a very big deal in Southern California--to the point where bridges over the various freeways, specifically meant for the sole use of these animals, are being constructed so the animals can pass OVER the freeway traffic below them, without having to interact with either cars or humans.

Of the thirteen mountain lions in the Santa Monica Mountains (Woolsey Fire) who are wearing radio collars, eight are known to have survived.

(Of the remaining five, there could be other survivors as well; because of the fires, the collars may not be communicating correctly.)

The status of four bobcats, who are also being tracked, is unknown--but they COULD still be alive.

Aside from the mountain lions mentioned above, there are also mountain lions, in their natural environment, in the nature park nearest to where I live (though I don't think any in this area are wearing radio collars)--and there is a pretty good chance (a really good chance, I think!) that all of them survived. (They ought to have been able to avoid the flames at the summit of the mountains, and stay below, at a lower elevation than the fire which was burning nearest to us.

Yay!!

https://bnqt.com/2018/11/13/at-least-8-mountain-lions-survive-southern-california-wildfires



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/15/2018 12:31AM by Tevai.

It was a bobcat in the Cedar fire from 2003 that led a woman down a winding mountain road where she couldn't see in front of her, to the right or the left. On one side was a cliff, the other a mountain. The bobcat came into her headlights and her intuition told her to follow it - it led her and her husband to safety all the way down the road. That, to her, was nothing short of a miracle.

Hooray for the mountain lions that were able to survive. It seems their survival instincts are more attuned to Mother Nature than ours is.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/15/2018 11:25AM by Amyjo.

This is a great story, Amyjo!

Thank you!

:)

Thank you both, for sharing both of these stories.

I have a special love and attachment to non-humans.

I leave home to go to work pretty early (around 4:30 AM). I'm in a very rural area, and I have a dirt road from my house down to the "main" road.

This morning as I rounded a corner on the dirt road, a bobcat trundled across the road in front of me, pausing for just a moment to stare at my lights, then scampering off the right side of the road into the trees.

It made my morning.

I'm happy to share the land with those wonderful cats.

ificouldhietokolob Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I leave home to go to work pretty early (around
> 4:30 AM). I'm in a very rural area, and I have a
> dirt road from my house down to the "main" road.
>
> This morning as I rounded a corner on the dirt
> road, a bobcat trundled across the road in front
> of me, pausing for just a moment to stare at my
> lights, then scampering off the right side of the
> road into the trees.
>
> It made my morning.
>
> I'm happy to share the land with those wonderful
> cats.


Thanks, HIE.

It's my pleasure, too, to share as well.

I've never seen a bobcat, but I deeply understand this story.

When I was about three years old, we moved from South L.A. to Topanga Canyon (in the Malibu area mountains), while my parents were building our new home in Woodland Hills (in the San Fernando Valley).

Living in Topanga, especially (for me, anyway) at that age, was incredible, because of the large variety of genuine wildlife all around us, all of the time.

I KNOW that feeling of "seeing a bobcat, who is seeing you" (although I don't think I've ever seen an actual bobcat), and it is totally magical. There is a moment when the eyes of each of you connect, and it seems (for a perceptible moment)like you are both looking into each other's soul--and it is one of the most incredibly life-connecting experiences I think humans can have.

(I know the bobcat you saw today was looking at your headlights, but your words brought back to me those times I've had when I really WAS, it felt like, looking directly into the soul of an animal, who was looking back into my soul at the same time.)

What a wonderful way to begin the day, Hie!!

It was a wonderful way to start the day.
My wife gets a bit nervous about them being around...I don't.
I think of them as our natural guardians. They're not going to bother us, they keep the rabbit/gopher populations in check, and they're just so darn beautiful!

And I know what you mean with the eye-to-eye thing. I never thought of it as "they're sizing you up to see if you're prey," I always thought of it as a nod to each other...you do your thing, I'll do mine, we'll get along fine!

ificouldhietokolob Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> And I know what you mean with the eye-to-eye
> thing. I never thought of it as "they're sizing
> you up to see if you're prey," I always thought of
> it as a nod to each other...you do your thing,
> I'll do mine, we'll get along fine!

Yes!!!!!

:)

I like to say fighting with your wife is like wrestling a bobcat. You can win, but it’s probably not worth it.

Some wives are like mountain lions or even Bengal Tigers.

Driving into town one morning last year I watched a pheasant run across the highway, which is a common thing, but that morning it flew into the air from the end of the pavement and a bobcat jumped out of hiding, caught it midair and ran off with it in its mouth. Made my day!

When mountain lions appear in towns where I live they are euthanized because there is so little public land to relocate them to in my state and neighboring states won't take them.

Mountain lions and wildfires have coexisted for how long, do you imagine?

I know I can be contrarian, but I like to think that there's a bigger picture... I'm all for mountain lions surviving!!

But if you walk up to a native of Paradise, CA who has lost a family member to the fire, along with all his/her worldly possessions and say to that person, "There, there, everything will work out, plus at least eight mountain lions made it through the SoCal fires!!!", just how comforted will that person be?

elderolddog Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> But if you walk up to a native of Paradise, CA who
> has lost a family member to the fire, along with
> all his/her worldly possessions and say to that
> person, "There, there, everything will work out,
> plus at least eight mountain lions made it through
> the SoCal fires!!!", just how comforted will that
> person be?


In just about any natural or manmade disaster I am aware of (from a local flood, though the Holocaust) there are tragic stories, and stories which turned out in ways we call "good."

One does not negate the other.

I am still culling my up-to-this-point, lifetime, library of books and research papers, and because of this, I (just yesterday) have been going through a book I bought during the same general time frame as my conversion to Judaism, but had basically not looked at since: RABBINIC RESPONSA OF THE HOLOCAUST ERA (translated by Robert Kirschner). These are questions of important (often: EXTREMELY important, because they affected real lives in legal ways) issues which arose during the Holocaust period. (Easy example: a Jewish woman's husband was "taken away" in the middle of the night and never seen again by anyone. Despite the fact that there are no valid Jewish witnesses of her husband's death, can his death be presumed, and thus, allow her to remarry?)

One of the actual questions submitted was (this really happened): A group of Jews were hiding from the Nazis in a ghetto bunker in Poland, and an infant in the group began crying loudly. If the cries were heard, all of those in the bunker would have absolutely been murdered. Someone covered the infant with a pillow so the Nazis would not hear the cries, and after the danger was over, the infant was found to be dead. The question was: Is the person who covered the infant with the pillow (therefore, inadvertently smothering the child to death) guilty of murder?

On the other end of the spectrum, there are many stories told of people who, given the catastrophically horrific circumstances, had seemingly miraculous "saves" of one kind or another, due to some unknown person's generosity and kindness, or some kind of out-of-nowhere "accident" which had the effect of inexplicably saving Jewish lives.

There are literally millions of these stories, those where people's lives were saved, and those where people died or were harmed in horrible ways, and stories which were both (a mother gives up her just-born, still unwashed, child to totally unknown strangers in another country [which is tragic], so that her child can survive [which is a triumph])--and they are ALL "Holocaust stories."

Wildfires are no different. There are people, and animals, who die in horrible and tragic ways, and there are people, and animals, who survive--and there are, quite frequently, heroes who save lives, and victims (such as animals, or the actual baby cited who was inadvertently killed in a Polish bunker) who lose their lives (or are dreadfully harmed) in the act of saving others.

One disaster does not negate the other triumph.

Both are valid.

Both are true.

And both say something about the often dual nature of life on this planet.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/15/2018 06:14PM by Tevai.

"But if you walk up to a native of Paradise, CA who has lost a family member to the fire, along with all his/her worldly possessions and say to that person, "There, there, everything will work out, plus at least eight mountain lions made it through the SoCal fires!!!", just how comforted will that person be?
'



Exactly...I'm glad some wild animals didn't die needlessly due to a fire, but my real concern goes to those people who lost loved ones and their houses

I think we can rejoice with all creatures who escaped or otherwise survived, and feel compassion or sadness for those who were hurt or died. I don't think it has to be one or the other.

I was looking at the photos that UC Davis veterinary school posted of some of the domestic cats who survived the Camp/Paradise fire. All of the poor things had bandaged paws. A couple had faces and whiskers that were burnt. I'm sorry for any creature who suffered in the fire.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/16/2018 10:42AM by summer.

Over three - now 600 [double yesterday's count]- hundred people are still missing since the Camp fire(s).

Gasp



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/16/2018 10:09AM by moremany.

https://youtu.be/noIJyY2KxRA

We got 'em too.

I can't find the link to the Ozarks (Netflix show) bobcats.

I don't think "our" bobcat made it through the Thomas Fire last year, but he was pretty cool; he'd sit and let you get within ten or twelve feet of him and as long as you were cool, he was cool. I got a couple of decent pictures that way.

I'm so glad.

I grew up in the Bay Area. Our small neighborhood backed up to pasture land.

One morning, I woke up to the dogs barking and not stopping. I got up to shush them. If they woke my dad, there would be hell to pay. I got them quieted, but they were still grumbling. I noticed that all the neighbors' dogs were also barking. I went out my front door and saw in the middle of our culdesac a Mtn Lion. I'm not sure if it was a he or she, but it was sitting there in the middle grooming itself. Licking its paws as if it had not a care in the world. I sat down on our porch and just watched it for a while, then realized I needed to call the neighbors so they don't let their dogs out front. By the time I got back she was gone. Such beautiful creatures.