Saturday, May 14, 2011

Shooting the cougar.

There are 123 comments on the KTVZ site over this incident. Which is way more than any little old human murder ever garners...

A word of advice for animal lovers. If you don't want this kind of thing to happen, don't feed the deer.

Actually I'm going to shout that: DON'T FEED THE FRACKIN' DEER!

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I've decided to vote for the bond measure, just so they'll build 5 more roundabouts. I want Bend to have a new nickname:

ROUNDABOUT CITY.

Better than "Poverty with a View" though it may amount to the same thing. Come to town, twirl around, and leave.

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Heroin deal downtown? Really? What 23 year old wakes up some morning and says, "I'm going to get hooked on heroin!"

Or meth, for that matter.

It's not like no one knows the consequences...

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"Recovery Seen In Use of Credit Cards" Bulletin, 5/14/11.

This is couched as though it's a 'good' thing. You know, "The dust is slowly coming off the credit cards."

The reasoning is, "...income is slowly making a comeback right now."

"Economists now are cautiously forecasting a turnaround in spending."

Yes, on the spending.

Proof that income is making a comeback? Seems like the opposite to me -- borrowing more money would imply that income is NOT making a comeback.

You know -- debt.

Versus having actually money to spend. (I never actually believed that Americans had given up on their credit cards -- more like, credit cards had given up on them...)

But I guess I don't think like an "expert" in the economy...

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I'm shocked -- SHOCKED! -- I tell you that Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook would try to "smear" Google despite their goal of being "transparent."

Hmmm.....did any of you journalists actually see that movie last year?

22 comments:

Duncan McGeary said...

Actually I've decided to vote for the measure because to not do so would be doing what I always accuse the concervatives of doing -- voting out of anger and ideology instead of common sense.

I want to live in a nice town.

H. Bruce Miller said...

I voted against the measure because I'm going to be out of this town in less than two years, and any transportation improvements will happen too late for me to benefit. But if I was going to stick around I'd have voted for it. It'd be cutting off one's nose to spite one's face to vote against a necessary measure just to "get even" with the city government for its past ineptitude.

Kevin said...

You don't say, a cougar in town, where the deer are now? Really, does that surprise anyone, that a natural predator is going to be in the same area of it's prey. Of course deer are going to hang out where they get easy, ample amounts of food. But now people are shocked that cougars are around.

Here's some simple logic for people; if you don't want cougars in town, get the deer out of town. Don't know how to stop the deer from being in town. A) DON'T FEED THEM, IDIOTS! B) Scare them off. Deer aren't going to stay where they feel threatened. And it's a lot easier to scare off a deer than to get your face clawed off trying to scare away a cougar.

It's crying shame that a cougar had to die for nothing more than being a cougar.

H. Bruce Miller said...

Kevin: Advising people not to feed deer is all well and good, but I don't feed the damn deer and they still come to my yard and the yards of my neighbors. They feed themselves very well on our trees, shrubs and flowering plants. I can't be standing outside all day shooing them off and I can't legally shoot 'em. So what's your advice?

I agree it was unfortunate the cougar was killed; I would have preferred to see it released in a wilderness area. But we can't assume it was the homeowner's fault that the cougar was hanging around.

Duncan McGeary said...

Yes, but we know that some homeowners ARE feeding deer -- so they need to stop.

Anonymous said...

What about Bend cougars, you know the kind that hang out in the bars and prey on young bucks?

Haven't heard of any good cougars suicides or takings for awhile.

The fact that BEND & BULL could spend so much time on this story, is will almost OBL-OREO-ELLIAN

RDC said...

The deer just happen to like to eat a lot of the plants that people like to use for landscaping. They also like gardens. Compared to the normal high desert vegetation a town is like a banquet for deer.

H. Bruce Miller said...

"What about Bend cougars, you know the kind that hang out in the bars and prey on young bucks?"

They have become an endangered species in this town since the real estate bubble popped.

OHDG said...

I'm against any animal that is invading our town. Especially deer, especially geese. There is definitely a point of oversaturation of wild creatures overstaying their welcome. By my house on the west side of town, there are resident deer. They never leave. They make the rounds. I have taken it upon myself to start shooting my beebee gun at them. Make it uncomfortable. Because if my dog or son got close to those deer, the deer would certainly attack and try to kill either. They don't belong here so it's time to make it obvious to the deer.

H. Bruce Miller said...

"I'm against any animal that is invading our town."

The animals were here long before we were, pal, so it's fair to ask who the "invaders" are.

"I have taken it upon myself to start shooting my beebee gun at [deer]."

If you're in a residential area and you hit somebody's house, pet or child with your BB gun you are going to be in BIG trouble. I'm not going to go into details, but I know from bitter experience.

H. Bruce Miller said...

"Because if my dog or son got close to those deer, the deer would certainly attack and try to kill either."

You must have unusually ferocious deer in your neighborhood. When my 23-pound dog runs yapping at deer they run away. (They run even faster when my 80-pound dog barks at them.)

OHDG said...

HBM,

I'm sorry you will bend over backward for nature. But we are apart of nature too and nature is not forgiving.

We are also sedentary creatures unlike the deer. The deer have the choice of going elsewhere. We do not. And those deer weren't here before us. Maybe their ancestors, but certainly not the ones living now.

What are you going to do HBM... get up and move for the deer or the Indians because they were here first?

And yes, the deer do attack if they feel provoked. Apparently some people think nature is like a Disney film! Everything lives together happily like the movie Bambi!

OHDG said...

HBM... also if the deer never leave, they will eventually raise their offspring to live off nothing but our city and effectively forget how to live in their real environment.

And when they do have offspring they are very, very protective and will defend perceived threats even if they aren't. I'm sorry, but I do draw a line, and it's the city limits or UGB.

OHDG said...

talk to reality HBM:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECZJKkCWYAY

by the way, I don't have an 80 lb. dog or even a 20 lb. dog. I have a 4 lb. dog! I'm pretty sure the dog in this video is about 20 lbs or more by the looks of it.

H. Bruce Miller said...

"And yes, the deer do attack if they feel provoked."

Have you ever been attacked by a deer? Do you know anybody who has?

"Apparently some people think nature is like a Disney film!"

Apparently some other people have an irrational fear of nature and undomesticated animals.

OHDG said...

HBM,

I do know someone who was attacked by a deer and was a teenager.

I don't have an irrational fear of of nature, but I did grow up around it nearly 24/7 as a child. I can tell you that nature don't give a damn. It will take advantage of you. It kills. It defends.

That's what I will do for my residence. I will defend it like an good 'ol deer would defend her fawn. In the meantime, the proper place for a deer to raise her fawn, is not in the city. I think you would agree.

OHDG said...

tell you what HBM.

You can go ahead and keep allowing deer into your yard, and subsequently the cougars too.

And I'll look out for my family, my domesticated animals (which rely on me for protection), my garden, and my neighbors families too.

H. Bruce Miller said...

"I'm sorry, but I do draw a line, and it's the city limits or UGB."

So any non-domesticated animal that ventures inside the Bend UGB should be killed? Does that go for squirrels too? How about sparrows, goldfinches and other tweety-birds?

I'm sorry, but I just can't help laughing when I read your posts.

OHDG said...

HBM... you protect yourself from the animals that are a threat.

Just like with the geese, if you allow them to be fed and breed out of control in our city, they will eventually be all over the streets and in peoples yards.

Where do you draw the line HBM? Because you do somewhere, even if you are unaware of where that is. Laugh all you want, but so far you have not defended your stance on allowing the undomesticated animals to stay. I however have given you plenty for why the should not.

OHDG said...

HBM is unaware of what is best for nature. The creatures of nature should remain in their natural environment, lest you want to be responsible for some new creation.

The city of Bend is NOT a natural environment and hasn't been for 100+ years. It has elements of it, but it has been severely altered with grass, gardens, foreign plants and trees, not to mention waste and hazards from man made creations and city traffic.

All that extra food is a big temptation to our neighbors in the forest, but it is certainly no invitation. We must regulate it because excess food allows excessive populations. The alternative is to have deer, cougars, thousands of geese living in our city unmanaged. This will cause problems. I don't think I need to list them again.

Back when man actually lived off the land he settled (instead of importing food) he probably didn't have as much of a problem of wild animals coming in, because they were shot for food, and they were shot for self defense. The animals learned. But some citizens think that only predators should be managed, while the rest run scot-free.

I think we need to stop feeling sorry for animals that take advantage of our unnatural environment that we created for ourselves. This isn't a zoo. This isn't a natural Wilderness protection zone. This is our home. The deer, the geese, the cougars, left unchecked will learn to live amongst us and breed out of control.

You draw the line somewhere. If not at all, it will be the cougars pushing you out and it should be the other way around.

Having wild animals around us is irresponsible for our children. Are we teaching our children that it's okay to get comfortable with wild animals? So that when they do go out in nature and see a deer, that it's appropriate to walk right up to it?

So far HBM I see nothing but idealism in your posts and no realism.

H. Bruce Miller said...

Cougars can be very dangerous predators, and when they move into heavily populated areas they need to be removed. (On the other hand, if somebody decides to move into in a sparsely populated area that's known cougar habitat, that's his problem.)

But geese are, at worst, an annoyance because of their poop, and deer are, at worst, an annoyance because they eat our gardens. Their populations need to be managed when they become too much of a nuisance (for example, I agreed with the killing of Drake Park geese last year) but I can't go along with the scorched-earth, kill-'em-all policy you seem to be advocating. I find that the geese and deer add a certain charm that compensates to some extent for the problems they cause.

If you want to live in an area that has no wild creatures (except pigeons and rats) I suggest moving to New York City. Meanwhile, if you're afraid that your four-pound dog will get mauled by a deer, I suggest that you (a) keep it inside or (b) get a bigger dog.

OHDG said...

HBM

Sounds like you're coming around some. I am by no means advocating for a scorched earth. I love nature. But there is a saturation point for our city which no matter how hard we try, we will never agree on how much. For some its less, others more. I also agree with you that we shouldn't be killing cougars if it's sparsely populated. Cougars come with the package in other words.

I also agree with you that a certain amount of geese and deer add "charm," even though that is an abstract idea. Geese and deer do more than just leave poop and eat gardens. Geese do obstruct traffic when there's a lot of them. Deer and other creatures do eat gardens and farm products. That is more than just a nuisance for some, it's a way of life! Yes, we have small farms in the city limits and UGB.

The only thing I'm arguing for HBM is moderation. I feel that there is too much deer in Bend. I'm not asking for entire eradication. Just manageable numbers, whatever that may be. I'll leave that to the experts. But in the meantime, I am going to try and scare away the deer from my property because there are better places for them to be.