Camp Meeker Beat by Tom Austin - April 2019 2019
It has come to my attention (though a well-written letter to the editor) that there are those among you, the readership, who have a pet peeve about columnists starting their column with a pithy, yet penchant observation about how the weather was two weeks ago. It seems that weather commentary does not age well. That’s a fair point, I will have to admit, even if I am a regular offender of that rule. I think it serves as a metaphorical “clearing of the throat” for the columnist, a folksy way of saying hello while we organize our thoughts. And like the clearing of one’s throat, unobjectionable in small to moderate doses, but a right pain once it gains habitual status, a literary tic. Plus, we need to leave the weather bandwidth free for those columnists whose content is legitimately weather-related, such as our soggy brothers and sisters in Guerneville.
Instead, I’d like to talk some more about mountain lions. It turns out that I am rather late to the party when it comes to mountain lion knowledge. It turns out there is a bona fide world-class large cat expert studying mountain lions here in Sonoma and Napa counties. I’m talking about Dr. Quinton Martins, founder of Living With Lions, has been tracking mountain lion activity in the wine country since July of 2016. Previously, he co-founded the Cape Leopard Trust in South Africa as part of a twenty year career in researching leopards and other big cats.
There as here, Dr. Martins’ work involves humanely trapping, tagging (with GPS collar) and releasing these large apex predators back into the wild. Since 2016, fifteen mountain lions have been tracked in Napa and Sonoma Counties. The work started in the Mayacamas Mountains between Napa and Sonoma counties, but in January 2019, lion P14 was captured and tagged in the Willow Creek watershed, just over the hill from us. This lion, P14, attacked and killed two llamas on Willow Creek Ranch, owners Paul Mathews and Maria Cardamone chose not to apply for a depredation permit to hunt the lion, a right given to them under state law. Six such permits were issued to Sonoma County residents last year after experiencing lion attacks on their wildlife. Mathews and Cardamone, longtime conservationists both, chose instead to contact Dr. Martins and Living With Lions. Using one of the llama victims as bait, lion P14 was captured, tagged, and released in January.
I’m sure you are wondering now, as I am: could that be our Monty? Monty the Mountain Lion, as I dubbed the big cat spotted near the water tank on Morelli Lane on multiple occasions. I would think that is entirely plausible. As stated before, male mountain lions tend to patrol territories up to fifty square miles, which would certainly encompass the distance between Willow Creek and Morelli Lane. As it turns out, my opinion is far from expert: the first week of tracking data showed young Master P14 roamed between Duncans Mills and Freestone, but stayed entirely west of Bohemian Highway. That means that Monty still roams free – yet hardly safe. A large carnivore’s life amongst mankind is precarious. Even though deer are relatively plentiful, there are plenty of dangers, including ranchers and landowners determined to protect their livestock. There are also the dangers from motor cars (of course) and pesticides ingested by their prey animals. No, not motor cars ingested by their prey animals. That would be a pretty darn big prey animal.
Dr. Martins spends a good deal of time in community outreach, including a March 22 appearance at the Sebastopol Rotary Club. Unfortunately (just like that weather commentary) that event is still in the future as I write this, but will be in your past by the time you read this. But as mentioned above, you can still catch Dr. Martin on April 11, 7-8:30 pm at the Laguna Environmental Center’s Heron Hall, 900 Sanford Road. If you are interested in better learning how to both protect your pets and livestock as well as coexist with this magnificent animal, that might be time well spent.
