Just to jump in a make a comment in response to "not enought Mt. Lions". I also read in a horse magazine that horses in an eastern sierra herd is keeping its numbers kept in check naturally. Mt. Lions there have indeed learned to hunt them. In one case a mare and foal were killed. It was mentioned that the "sight" of attack and kill suggested the mare put up quite a fight for her foal. I know this is natural, but it was also sad to me. Nature can be quite harsh. The others noted were either yearlings and I believe one was quite an elderly horse. Anyway, Mt. lions are definately on the rise, especially where I live. In fact, overpopulated here. Some even get killed crossing the freeway (I80 to be exact). There are at least four Mt. Lions in a gated rural community right next to me. To many too close. I even had one walking up my driveway last spring. Beautiful animals, but not afraid of anything. I was very concerned because my horses were in the pasture not even 200 yards from this animal. I've also seen one jump out of a tree in the back of my hill, and one we startled resting under an oak tree next to my neighbors house. I think the only reason we weren't bothered was because we "walked" by and kept continual eye contact with it until we were sure it didn't follow. It had gotten up, circled around looking at us as we walked by. Possibly, making a decision. I tell my kids to be very careful and ride with somebody. I was also stalked by one when I was riding with a friend in a park in Los Gatos, CA. I had to report it to the ranger because it had followed me all the way down to a childrens play ground. I knew we were being stalked because we both heard it and the horses ears would alert me to where it was. They were calm but their nostrils were flared. When I got to the bottom of the trail I just happened to look to my right and I saw the cat as it ran thru a clearing into another brushy area. It was only 20 feet to my right. The ranger said sometimes they are just curious. But we had to warn the public. I have also known several persons in the last two years that have had their horses attacked by them. And the deer population here is in high numbers. Lots of food. Bottom line is they are overpopulated, and we are pushing into their domain. Bad situation. I was lucky. These animals aren't even fearful of humans anymore. Some people think they are like fluffy cute large animals. They are cunning smart predators who do their job well. And they all have different personalities. Some more aggressive than others. If they stalk you they are not wanting to say "hello" to you. They either have cubs or are hungry and you may be the menu! I'm not a finatic about this but have had encounters. I didn't like them. We also have aggressive coyotes. I'd seen them in the bay area parks and they would normally just run away or look at you and go about there business. Here they follow us, and one turned and bared its teeth at my friend and I. I was on a 16'1 hand horse and it wasn't intimadated at all. So now we chase them aggressively to let them know that their behavior is not acceptable to us. And it teaches our horses that sometimes normally scary things will run from them. We don't do this to be mean, just to teach our horses to confront if we need or want them too, and to show the wildlife we don't care to be stalked! Hope I didn't affend anyone, but based on my personal experiences out here I see that in our trying to fix things, we have messed up the natural balance of nature. If we stay out of things, I feel nature will find a way to correct itself. It always did in the past. Again, just my thoughts, kathie
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