Wild Animals vs. Humans & Civilation
On Monday, May 17th, Palo Alto police shot and killed a young male mountain lion who apparently came down from the hills to a residential area in suburban Palo Alto searching for food. In fear of the young mountain mistaking pets and children for prey, an officer shot him while he was treed in a front yard. Reportedly, the state fish and game department said using tranquilizer darts would be of little use as the dazed animal might be more dangereous while trying to escape. So the decision was made to shoot to kill.
That decision resulted in an outcry from people across the country and the world. But some residents there are glad the police did what they did. Here's the story from a local TV station that was there to record the news as it happened on Monday.
Then on Tuesday, a deer made its way onto the Golden Gate Bridge. Traffic was stopped in both directions while officers shooed the deer off the bridge.
I wondered why they didn't shoot the deer. After all, it was a menace to drivers' lives if it got hit. I guess that's the difference between predators and non-predators. One you shoot to kill; the other you shoo to allow it to live.
(Originally started in May, saved as a draft, and forgotten about until today, June 11th.)
On Monday, May 17th, Palo Alto police shot and killed a young male mountain lion who apparently came down from the hills to a residential area in suburban Palo Alto searching for food. In fear of the young mountain mistaking pets and children for prey, an officer shot him while he was treed in a front yard. Reportedly, the state fish and game department said using tranquilizer darts would be of little use as the dazed animal might be more dangereous while trying to escape. So the decision was made to shoot to kill.
That decision resulted in an outcry from people across the country and the world. But some residents there are glad the police did what they did. Here's the story from a local TV station that was there to record the news as it happened on Monday.
Then on Tuesday, a deer made its way onto the Golden Gate Bridge. Traffic was stopped in both directions while officers shooed the deer off the bridge.
I wondered why they didn't shoot the deer. After all, it was a menace to drivers' lives if it got hit. I guess that's the difference between predators and non-predators. One you shoot to kill; the other you shoo to allow it to live.
(Originally started in May, saved as a draft, and forgotten about until today, June 11th.)
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