Mountain lion kills 8 pygmy goats raised by Trabuco youth club

[TexasTowelie]

A mountain lion looks through the fence where the Trabuco Trailblazers 4-H group keeps their pygmy goats on Tuesday night. Eight goats were killed overnight Monday. (Winston Vickers, wildlife veterinarian with UC Davis Wildlife Health Center)

SILVERADO – Members of the Trabuco Trailblazers 4-H Club discovered this week that eight of their prized pygmy goats had been killed by a mountain lion sometime late Monday night or early Tuesday morning, according to news reports.

One goat survived the attack, but was injured, said Winston Vickers, a wildlife veterinarian who was called out to investigate the area Tuesday.

Vickers, who has been studying mountain lions in the Santa Ana Mountains since 2002, said the mountain lion likely got into the pen where the goats were held through holes and gaps along the perimeter or roof. And that could have led to a frenzy, he said.

“They’re trapped,” Vickers said. “A common characteristic of cats in that situation is to go into a frenzy of grabbing every animal that runs by. It’s not unusual to have animals killed, it’s a behavioral characteristic.”

Read more: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/mountain-748048-lion-vickers.html

[font color=330099]Preparing for the cabrito cookoff?[/font]

[Bayard]

1. When I lived in mountain lion turf in Calif.

I was told that lions that go after domestic animals are either young and stupid, or old and not so good at hunting anymore. The neighbors around us would have sheep and goats taken on occasion. The other problem is that people are moving into the mountain lions environment, and then scream about animals being eaten.

[SunSeeker]

2. I hope they don't go after the mountain lion. I found this paragraph dusturbing:

Members of the 4-H club have 10 days from the date of the attack to ask for a depredation permit, which would allow for the mountain lion to be hunted.

http://m.ocregister.com/articles/mountain-748048-lion-vickers.html

So you put defenseless prey in a mountain lion habitat, and the mountain lion does what a mountain lion is supposed to do, and that gives you license to kill the mountain lion?! WTF?

[littlemissmartypants]

3. Indeed. Horrible. eom