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Every spring I can count on calls from Parks Canada or the Provincial Government to deal with problem wildlife that is considered a Public Saeftey Issue.
Seems we are managing people and the wildlife is always the looser in the end.
There is a female lion and two 1 1/2 year old kittens that have become an issue and we have decided to try a different approach than we have in the past to deal with it.
Treeing the lions and hitting them with rubber bullets and retreeing them repeatedly within the area they want to keep them out of we hope will deter them from returning...similar to the way the game dept. is doing with bears....it is something I have wanted to try on lions in the past as an alternitive to killing them right off the start.
We will see how this works...
It rained hard the other morning and catching a lion would be nearly impossiable, the hounds hit some scent and I didn't think it could be anything other than a bear, as it turned out the hounds didn't care, we caught two bear in less than half an hour so called it quits till we can find the lions.

Great post as allways Brent, Are you heading to the Alberta Field Trials next weekend?
Regards
Bluedog4

Brent: Keep us posted as to HOW this all works out . THANKS

bluedog4 wrote:Great post as allways Brent, Are you heading to the Alberta Field Trials next weekend?
Regards
Bluedog4

I have clients in for a couple days right at that time, but will try to get up and spend a few hours and see some of you.
I had a call from someone up your way that found a hound with a collar and the number is no longer in service the hounds name is Ollie on his tag Red Deer area I believe???
Out in the morning to go try to catch the lions, quite raining finally so maybe a bit better change of getting them and not have another bear chase...

bob baldwin jr wrote:Brent: Keep us posted as to HOW this all works out . THANKS

Always glad to share the results.
I am hoping it works, but in the past we have had to distroy cats with the same pattern of behavior.... I feel we may end up doing the same with this family group as they have been in the area all winter.
Politics play a huge part in this type of situation because you just can't take stupid out of the majority of people that visit these National Parks.
Public safety is first in every situation as it should be, however with the willingness of the officilas in charge to try a different approch this time, it's a look in the right direction, and if it is successfull it may very well become something that is looked at in the future and considered as a first option.

just a question but why cant you try and catch them and relocate them

basko wrote:just a question but why cant you try and catch them and relocate them

Basko
That is a question many of us have asked in the past but politics plays a much larger role in this than does wildlife management.
I have however seen where relocation is not the answer.
With most of the Parks as well as provincial issues dealing with problem cats, it falls under a liability issue.
If you move that lion chances are you will be giving the problem to someone else, and with all the budget cuts.... cost of relocateing to a remote area is not likely to happen as it has been proven that mortality of relocated lions with kittens is very high.
There has been no reports of the lions beening seen again in the past week so it is possiable that thye have moved out on their own, which is good.

Brent,
Here in Utah the program of relocation works by marking the animal so as to easily identify the habitual offenders. And sometimes depending on the public risk they use lethal force. I wish they would find 1 program and stick with it, not whoever is on scene with that adjenda. Funny how each officer or biologist operates different.

If you ever see anything that works well PLEASE pass it on.

Black Eye
The Park officials have all agreed to try the option to tree the lions and mark them with paint ball as well as hit them with rubber bullets and see if this is enough to keep them out of the area.
Trail cameras throughout the area will help as well to identify them ...
It is a small park in size and the lions have lived all winter in the area on the high deer population, however now with all the human activity his may help some as well.

We hope to have the opportunity to try the multiple treeing with the harassment and see if it will work to provide another means of working toward the non lethal method.

Will keep you up to date on what happens

I have lots of experience dealing with problem bears and lions. Relocation works so-so. About 50-75% of problem bears relocated in NM either become a problem where they were released or come back to the same area they were trapped. I relocated a bear two weeks ago, moved him 50 miles away in good bear country. Took him about 5 days to make it back to the same area he was trapped at. This time he was killed while killing chickens. Ive treed bears and emptied paint ball guns on them and the next night they are right back in town doing the same thing.

In Utah a kid got killed by a problem bear in a camp ground, the family sued the Forest service and was awarded 1.9 million. When agencies look at numbers like that and the likelihood of a relocated bear or lion becoming a problem again, destroying the problem animal is sometimes the best choice. Food for thought

Not that I have any influence but a great idea can come in handy Mike, so thanks for the info.
The bear attack seems to have all dwr employees heighned with intent to end all conflicts. That story has allot more than meets the eye, the govt hunter that closed the deal on that bear lives down the road from me. Allot of pressure on that day "great performance".

Brent thanks keep us posted as seems our population is in the dumps but occasionally we get called to help an a lion. Most times is a bunk deal.

Thanks guys.