Hollister Cougar Meeting Update
Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2009 8:27 pm
The July 8 meeting in Hollister was a packed house. There were reps from Fish and Game, USDA Wildlife Services, The Mountain Lion Foundation, the state assemblywoman and the state senator. Dan Tichenor from CHC was there along with some local reporters. There majority of the audience was local ranchers. The meeting opened with a presentation on the basic biology of cats. The Fish and Game biologist said that on the average in California there would be 5-7 cats in a hundred square mile area. That brought some mild chuckles from the audience. I have 5-7 cats living in five square miles of the canyon I live in. This was pretty much how the whole meeting would go. It got testy a few times especially when the local game warden spoke. He is in a tough spot and I know we all have our own opinions on wardens, but he bluntly told the audience that as soon as he could he would transfer out of San Benito County and the %15 pay cut he has faced this year. There was a lot of discussion on depredation permits and the associated hassles with documentation of kills and obtaining the permit (only good for ten days). The prevailing sentiment of the ranchers was the three S's.
The Fish and Game brought up a good point. Because of this attitude San Benito County
doesn't seem to have a lion problem on paper, and when dealing with the government it is all about the paper.
Local merchants talked about the loss of revenue during deer season and the severe decline of the local heard. The head of the Mountain Lion Foundation, Timnd Dunbar, pretty much treated the ranchers as a bunch of backwoods, no good poachers, and outright liars. The bottom line we all realized is that Prop. 117 is a huge waste of taxpayer's money and its' ban on cougar hunting has upset the predator/prey balance in the state and needs to be overturned.
I closed the meeting with a brief speech stating that there would be positive coverage of this meeting, unlike the Monterey Heralds pro cat slant and that this meeting could be the genesis of the movement to overturn 117. Tim Dunbar qouted me on this in his blog, without attribution and mentioned my almost famous quote from previous articles about the little blond girl with pigtails being pulled from the bus stop. Overall it was a positive gathering
The Fish and Game brought up a good point. Because of this attitude San Benito County
doesn't seem to have a lion problem on paper, and when dealing with the government it is all about the paper.
Local merchants talked about the loss of revenue during deer season and the severe decline of the local heard. The head of the Mountain Lion Foundation, Timnd Dunbar, pretty much treated the ranchers as a bunch of backwoods, no good poachers, and outright liars. The bottom line we all realized is that Prop. 117 is a huge waste of taxpayer's money and its' ban on cougar hunting has upset the predator/prey balance in the state and needs to be overturned.
I closed the meeting with a brief speech stating that there would be positive coverage of this meeting, unlike the Monterey Heralds pro cat slant and that this meeting could be the genesis of the movement to overturn 117. Tim Dunbar qouted me on this in his blog, without attribution and mentioned my almost famous quote from previous articles about the little blond girl with pigtails being pulled from the bus stop. Overall it was a positive gathering