Mountain Lion shot in Des Moines
- Thread starter oldman
- Start date
I just want to check; has anyone heard from SteveFrench lately? You don't suppose it was him do you?
You seem to be the minority. In my experience most Iowans want them out of their state regardless and though most will sit and say it is a shame that the animal was killed, most will continue that sentence with a but.
I'm sorry to say but there are a lot of people in Iowa that are scared of nature. (My mom's whole family falls under this category and so do most of the people I know who were born and raised in Iowa.) Really the only nature that is a threat to Iowans is weather and sometimes floods and for those problems Iowans are well adjusted. However many places have bad weather and floods and they also have earthquakes, volcanoes, wildfires, major populations of predator or poisonous insects and higher crime. Iowa does not. It is these reasons that Iowa is such a family friendly place to live, however it also has the affect of shielding people from reality that most american's live in and makes Iowans seem naive.
Wasn't it you earlier in the thread that said "Iowa doesn't have mountain lions. I call fake." Or something along those lines? Are you throwing yourself into the naive category?
That was sarcasm earlier. People on here have said that before and with the article clearly giving proof that they are indeed in Iowa it seemed appropriate.
I actually live in the mountains of washington and see cougars fairly regularly, and not just the ones in Pullman. Just last week there was a black bear in the ditch right out of town that someone hit with their car. In Iowa that would have made headlines. Last year I posted a picture that was taken just south of where I live of 8 cougars in one place.
That kinda goes with what I was saying above. Iowans are not as exposed to nature in that way and, as humans, anything new scares them. The fact that there was a news article about it speaks volumes. Out here in washington, which has a very high population of cougars, we don't kill them unless they are a danger to the public or have killed livestock. We have very little problems with them.
What I was trying to say before, and I've gotten a little of topic, but it is crazy the fear that people have of them when there are so many other dangers that face them regularly that people ignore. The facts are that cougars are less danger to humans then dogs, still we have threads and people who are sure that cougars are going to do nothing but steal babies from cradles and attack little old ladies on the way to the mail box.
As one that is an outdoor guy, and mtn biker/runner-they did right thing. Animal was wandering looking for food in dangerous area. Amazed a cop actually could shoot an animal.
The animal was not afraid of humans and was in stalk mode of 911 caller. Humans should be afraid of wild animals...it is proper response.
I didn't say that the cop was wrong in this case, I'm saying that you guys are blowing this whole mountain lion deal out of proportion. Every time there is a report of cougar being seen or a track found or in this case a cougar shot, there is a 4+ page thread on it. When I lived in Iowa I had people asking me all the time about it. Most Iowans that I have heard on here and that I've talked to seem to think having cougars in Iowa is a terrible thing. Outside of wondering into a city here or there what have they done? They may actually help your deer population which is out of control.
Well they have a wiki page on killings of humans. They have an economic impact when killing livestock. It isn't out of blind fear that I think this one shokd have been taken down. It was WHERE it was living...in freakin city limits. It is risk/reward. This animal wasn't freaked by humans he saw hem as food. Think it through man.
This is so typical of the ignorant 1800's cowboy mentality in Iowa. What hasn't been mentioned is that this animal has been roaming the area since at least June and hasn't bothered anyone. You're astronomically more likely to be taken down by a texting teen than an Iowa mountain lion. Yet do we ask the cops to blast away at little girls with cell phones?
There are just too many who drool at the opportunity blast away for free. Easy way out; kill it and forget it.
