Boulder's Mountain Lions

We received about 6 inches of snow yesterday; by 10:30 in the morning it had stopped snowing and the sun was shining. It was beautiful. Right now, it's 12 degrees outside and it's mostly sunny. I've been out walking, but will be going out again to exercise the Irish kids. There are no visiting critters outside, and both kits are in; Lovey and Banichi ran out this morning and came back in complaining about the snow... I apologized and told them that I had no control over it and to think about summertime. Banichi is curled up in the sun on the top of the cat tree and Lovey is sitting between my arms, in front of the keyboard, "helping" me type.

Boulder's mountain lion controversy is stirring up again. A couple of weeks ago, a home-owner in North Boulder let their terrier out after dark. When the dog didn't want back in quickly, the owner called for the dog without any response. The owner went out with a flashlight, and in the alley behind the house, caught a mountain lion - with the dog in it's mouth - within the light. The dog was obviously dead. The lion jumped the 6-foot fence and left with its prey. Boulder re-issued it's warning about mountain lions - that we are living in their territory; go out with a light; make lots of noise; don't let small pets outside by themselves. As usual, people are getting very upset about their "rights", the "rights" of their pets, and the "rights" of local wildlife.
Me - I love all animals; domesticated, feral, wild. I feel very sorry for the family that lost their dog to the mountain lion. But I'm also irritated and angry with them. Just because one lives within the city limits, one cannot expect wild animals to respect unseen lines on a map. The wild things have been here much longer than we have, we keep pushing into their territory, and we can't expect them to keep moving away from old hunting grounds. These people have lived in Boulder for over 10 years - they have heard all the stories about coyotes, fox, mountain lions and bears. But they felt "safe" and ignored ordinary safety precautions. So now they blame the wild animals for being wild animals. Somehow, that doesn't make sense to me.

The local news has been covering the National Western Stock Show each morning. I think I'm going to have to visit Denver this Friday as well as next Friday to go to the event. Today is "Western Dress" day in Denver and there will be a parade of horses, wagons, stagecoaches, riders, floats, and long-horn steers beginning at noon on 17th Street. I'd love to go, but won't be able to make it down there in time after walking Rosie and Remy. I think I need a big dose of farm animals to get my "animal equilibrium" back - I definitely see and get and give love from plenty of cats and dogs at this time, but I miss the big critters.