State: Cougar killings come down to liability

New Mexico Department of Game and Fish is doing the correct thing.

Catch and Release does NOT work.

Sounds nice, but ...

I feel Game & Fish handles these calls on a case by case basis and makes the best decision possible. These same Eldoradoans that are moaning about euthanizing this animal, are the very same people that would be quick to cry wolf (and sue) this department if this cougar would have attacked someone. Unless you are some sort of expert in this field, get over it and let these agencies do their jobs!

We understand the liability issues, and the many decisions G&F make will never satisfy everone, however, we think the dept of G&F needs to educate, forecast, alert, the populace aggressively about wild animal appearances and behavior, use resourceful technologies to maintain tracking these animals, relocate them to a designated cougar quadrants, where ranges can be fairly predictable, People need to take defense mechanisms with them when camping, hiking, etc. Just maybe we can preserve our wild animal population and not resort to killing them when these encounters happen.

Little Jose was most unfortunate, not to have had parents who would take better care of him.

I do not know Jose or his family and realize that is a tough stance to take...but it is the plain truth.

Good parenting skills are the answer.

Obviously, a 5 year old has no business hiking where there is even the slightest possibility of cougars or other predatory animals being present.

New Mexico, without its wildlife, would not be the special place it is today.

Diminishing wildlife is surely akin to the old espression:" Killing the goose that laid the golden egg".

Keep the beautiful and very special wildlife and educate the upright animals...PLEASE!

Ooops! Should have been " expression".

This animal and every animal like it have got a thousand more times the right to be where they want to be. We are and have been encroaching on their space. Gad made animals before men. Then he made us an what did we do, ruin everything, sinned from the minute we were given a chance. These are God's creatures. They have the right to roam wherever they want. I feel that if we end up in a wild animals face, well then we're just going to have to deal with that situation. Yes, I have children and family, but, I still feel the same way. There are so very few tigers left in Asia. So very few Lions left in Africa. I don't know about you but, I don't want to have to show my grandkids a picture of a tiger in a book and say, "we used to have those here one time". That would be devastating. Everything man touches, it destroys. Find a way to relocate these animals when necessary. I mean come on, how many attacks have there been really? We need to be fair with these wild animals. Human's need to learn all they can about these animals and see what we can do to change this situation around. That animal shouldn't have been put down.

We need to start a massive kill program for any animal that might even possibly harm a human. I suggest spraying some kind of deadly nerve gas (after warning the public, of course) from crop dusters, and hiring bounty hunters with semi-automatic rifles and expensive scopes -- we need to completely eliminate the chance that a human might be hurt by a bear, cougar, snake, prairie dog, horned toad, beaver anywhere in New Mexico. After a couple of years of this, these deadly animals might get the message and go somewhere else.

It's our only solution -- these animals have no sense of right and wrong, and someone needs to teach them a lesson.

Ben and Charlotte Salazar are some of the best most contientious parents on the planet. You have no right to make that snap judgement on what happened to them.

Santa Fe Woman wrote:

Little Jose was most unfortunate, not to have had parents who would take better care of him.
I do not know Jose or his family and realize that is a tough stance to take...but it is the plain truth.
Good parenting skills are the answer.
Obviously, a 5 year old has no business hiking where there is even the slightest possibility of cougars or other predatory animals being present.
New Mexico, without its wildlife, would not be the special place it is today.
Diminishing wildlife is surely akin to the old espression:" Killing the goose that laid the golden egg".
Keep the beautiful and very special wildlife and educate the upright animals...PLEASE!

I live in Eldorado. I behave with good sense...do not take midnight walks, keep my trash properly encased, and maintain respectful behavior toward wildlife. However, Eldorado is not a mountain community. On the cusp of the foothills and not a mountain community.

I did not move here to become cat food. Period.

"This animal and every animal like it have got a thousand more times the right to be where they want to be"...Yeah, in a National Park.

OR

"Keep the beautiful and very special wildlife and educate the upright animals...PLEASE!"...well , we're not talking about bumping all of them off, are we?

About 20 years ago, in Boulder Colorado, there was a deer problem. Too many were coming into residential neighborhoods. The plan was to thin the deer out. Bang. It was warned that when the deer came into the residential communities the lions would follow. And the deer population should be reduced. Not my taste in burgers but some like them.

However, like minded folks, similar to those quoted above fought this bambi genocide and the result was predictable: lions in backyards.

If I lived in the mountains I would accept the lions as one must. Though, I would want the predator population managed in proper proportion to other wildlife and to develop a healthy fear of humans. Ultimately I would accept a moderated risk.

Forests are managed to control fire risk.
Lions must be managed to control numbers and to learn fear of humans.

If YOU of YOUR child came to grief because of a lion I guarantee and would bet my deed that YOU'D be the first to raise holy heck over that.

YOU wouldn't be holding no funeral for the lion. That's for sure.

anyway, from what I understand it's no fun being eaten alive

'Winslow said he doesn't think the cougar population has grown much. "In a situation where cougars are not being harmed much by humans, they are self-regulating. They kill each other off."

So for pity's sake, don't raise the number of hunting licenses or the bag limits as a knee jerk response to just kill every animal that could possibly hurt a human, or hurt something that people want to hurt like deer and elk, or hurt something that people own like domestic animals. Predator hatred is alive and well in NM and we must not cater to it.
They aren't cuddly, but they are beautiful and crucial to functioning biomes. With predators, you get diversity in everything from songbirds, to butterflies, to frogs to flowers. Without them, systems collapse.
Emphasize again- Predators are self-regulating!

Not in my back yard they aren't. Look, Santa Fe is not exactly being overrun with little suburbias sprouting up all over. It's still a relatively
sparse place to live. Especially if you reside in the county. We're not encrouching on their territory.

"Predators are self-regulating!" Perhaps they've had a baby boom.

I want to hear you say this if one digs those pearly whites into your neck because they're no longer fearful of humans.

Santa Fe Woman wrote:

Little Jose was most unfortunate, not to have had parents who would take better care of him.
I do not know Jose or his family and realize that is a tough stance to take...but it is the plain truth.
Good parenting skills are the answer.
Obviously, a 5 year old has no business hiking where there is even the slightest possibility of cougars or other predatory animals being present.
New Mexico, without its wildlife, would not be the special place it is today.Diminishing wildlife is surely akin to the old espression:" Killing the goose that laid the golden egg".
Keep the beautiful and very special wildlife and educate the upright animals...PLEASE!

You are an idiot plain and simple. I don't like to name call in an argument, but your comments do not give me much choice in the vocabulary department. You could not possibly have children, and if you do I feel sorry for them.

This family was hiking on a trail near the Sandia Ski Base.... In case you are unaware, that is an area where a lot of PEOPLE choose to hike or do this little thing we call SKIING!!??? So you mean to tell me that those parents should not expose this child to exercise because they should have known a wild cougar would show up in a place where humans often are found? You are probably the same person that complains parents are lazy and kids play too many video games these days. This family was trying to enjoy the outdoors and spend quality time together, it sounds like that little boy could not ask for better parents. His father saved his life. You on the other hand probably would have watched and done nothing (that is where the part where I feel sorry for your children come in).

If people like you ruled the world we would end up locked in our homes while wild animals ruled outside our homes and you wouldn't even allow us to use guns to protect ourselves (and no I don't own a gun right now, Though I would, if my family's life depended on it).

Though I struggle myself with the thought of killing any animal, I wouldn't hesitate for a moment if one of my children was in harms way, especially if it meant saving the LIFE of my child.

My parents live in the Eldorado area, and my children, nieces and nephews play outside all the time. Kudos to the Game and Fish for protecting my family and the lives of other families in New Mexico. Maybe next time they can catch and release at this woman's house and see what her response would be.... I'm thinking she might reconsider her idiotic comment if she were in the same position as that father, on that horrible day.

Survival of the fittest right???.....

Euthanize all animals! Get rid of everything except humans! We need a nice, safe, sterile environment. Humans are just, righteous and kind. Eradicate all the beasts of the land, air and sea! God gave us dominion over the animals. Only humans are worth saving! Cull every living thing except humans before it's too late! Humanity must have space in which to be fruitful and multiply. Animals are stopping us from achieving our God-given destiny! We must eradicate the other species now!

Says Marty Frentzel: "For every person who thinks predators are kind and gentle, there's another who wants to sue us for failing to protect public safety." That implies a a false dichotomy and, frankly, is offensive. Many of us who feel that predator-animals should not to be slaughtered have no delusions about their being "kind and gentle." In any case the idea is ridiculous. Every animal is a predator, and none is "kind and gentle" when in predator mode. Surely humans are intelligent enough to figure out how to live within the food chain without eliminating every creature that might be perceived as a threat in some circumstance.

The Game and Fish did what was right. Hey I'm an animal lover, but these are wild animals and they show no fear of humans. When a wild animal shows these traits something is eventualy going to happen, and it's not gonna be good.

If it was a love one of yours that got mauled by a wild animal most of you guys would be sining a different tune.

It's unfortunate what happend to this cougar, but better to take care of the problem now instead of waiting for a tragedy to occur later.

Good Job NMG&F

The sad part about this tongue-in-cheek statement is that it would make many idiots very happy!

Ed Wrangell wrote:

We need to start a massive kill program for any animal that might even possibly harm a human. I suggest spraying some kind of deadly nerve gas (after warning the public, of course) from crop dusters, and hiring bounty hunters with semi-automatic rifles and expensive scopes -- we need to completely eliminate the chance that a human might be hurt by a bear, cougar, snake, prairie dog, horned toad, beaver anywhere in New Mexico. After a couple of years of this, these deadly animals might get the message and go somewhere else.
It's our only solution -- these animals have no sense of right and wrong, and someone needs to teach them a lesson.

Frentzel said. "For every person who thinks predators are kind and gentle,........."

Oh please. I'm really offended by this statement. Predators are a necessary part of a healthy environment -- and most environmentalists have no illusions about their "kind and gentle" nature. This statement is just ridiculous.

NIMBY

Humans have figured out a way, it is called euthanizing, or removing and re-releasing one animal at a time, on a case by case basis as evidence warrants. Nothing evil happened here unless it is in the minds of the uneducated wildlife lovers. And there are a lot of those who simply want to promote a huggable baby cougar to raise funds for their groups rather than focus on realistic wildlife management.

Reality Check wrote:

Says Marty Frentzel: "For every person who thinks predators are kind and gentle, there's another who wants to sue us for failing to protect public safety." That implies a a false dichotomy and, frankly, is offensive. Many of us who feel that predator-animals should not to be slaughtered have no delusions about their being "kind and gentle." In any case the idea is ridiculous. Every animal is a predator, and none is "kind and gentle" when in predator mode. Surely humans are intelligent enough to figure out how to live within the food chain without eliminating every creature that might be perceived as a threat in some circumstance.

I guarantee that cougars were here before this area was settled. If you chose to live in an urban-wildlife interface area--including the damned foothills--then you need to take precautions and understand that you are very much part of the food chain. You know--Eat or be eaten.

Second of all, anywhere people are outdoors--even if it's a "popular" recreational spot, they are in the animals' environment. Unfortunately, because of the need to dominate anything, humans win and the animals always lose.

I believe that NMG&F is working to ensure the safety of all the organisms that are under their umbrella--including humans.