'Fraidy Cat

                  Near the village, the quiet village, the lion sleeps tonight.

–  The Lion Sleeps Tonight, The Tokens

One of the benefits of living in Idaho Falls is our proximity to nature.  I can take my dog for a walk, and 15 minutes from home we’re at the Snake River.  Bald eagles soar overhead and occasionally dive down to nail a fish.  Or a mouse.  Or a marmot.  One day last week, walking along by the river, duck feathers were raining down on us.  My dog, Maybelline – "Maybe" for short - was fascinated and pounced on them;  she was delighted to find bits of bloody flesh attached.  I was totally grossed out, and looked up into the branches of an oak tree to see a young eagle tearing a duck apart right over our heads.

We take our river walk often.  There are areas along the way where we are far from any motor vehicles and Maybe can run about freely, liberated from her leash. Her favorite activity is chasing geese.  If the birds take flight, she runs with all her heart after them, as if she might propel herself into the air if she can just gain enough speed.  If the birds escape into the water, she will pursue them – up to a point. 

Maybe is a pound puppy of mixed heritage:  her mother is a German Shepherd and her father is, I think, a black Lab. (I met her mother, and her brothers all looked like Labradors.) The Lab blood in her veins tells her, “Go get that goose, jump in the river! Get wet, get wet!”  The German Shepherd in her says, “Water!?! Yuck! Never!” 

The poor thing is terribly conflicted. 

Every summer Maybe has ventured a few inches deeper into the water, but only just so far.  Those paws may be webbed, but they will never leave solid ground and paddle!

Besides the eagles and the geese, we often see other wildlife on our walks: ducks, hawks, herons, ground squirrels, and, on early mornings, deer.  All within the Idaho Falls city limits. 

Plus, there are usually other dogs to meet and sniff and socialize with.  Some of those dogs do actually swim, which seems to hold a certain morbid fascination for my Maybe.  We watched a spaniel jump in the water and retrieve a toy about 100 times last week.  He was blissful. My dog was perplexed. “What the hell is he doing?”  was written all over Maybelline's little dog face.  “Is he NUTS?!”

But for the past week or so, Maybelline and I have been walking strictly in town.  On paved streets with lots of people about, and at mid-day.  The change in our routine was made after hearing reports of a mountain lion wandering about on the west side of Idaho Falls. 

Multiple sightings of the big cat resulted in “reverse 911” calls being made from the school district to residents of the area, including two of my sisters.  The calls were automated, and the recordings recommended taking precautions:
 

1.       Walk with your children to and from school or the bus stop, or, better yet, drive them to school. 

2.       Don’t let the kids play outside unattended.

3.       Don’t let the family pets go outside unattended.

The big cat sightings were reported in the local newspaper, on TV news and even online.  Then, in yesterday’s newspaper, buried at the back of Section C, another article appeared, this one about a mountain lion that was struck by a vehicle and killed on the Interstate, about 25 miles south of Idaho Falls.  “Officials don’t believe it was the same cat spotted Monday in Idaho Falls” the subhead read.

Now I have lived in Idaho Falls for eight years.  I don’t recall ever hearing so much news about predators around town before.  Perhaps I was too absorbed in my work.  Or just oblivious.  But this fall, I am scared!  What is going on?  Are we being invaded?  Can I ever walk my dog down by river again? 

My logic was flawless, I figured.  Trees to hide in, fresh water to drink, geese and marmots for the catching.  What big cat wouldn’t head straight to the Snake River to hang out when passing through Idaho Falls?  And wouldn’t a healthy dog, fed on Science Diet and Milk Bones, make a tasty meal?  How would I beat a mountain lion off my dog? 

Today, Maybelline strained at her leash as a flock of southbound geese honked over our heads while we circled Kate Curley Park for the fifth time. We would both like to return to our regular routine.

So I phoned the Idaho Fish and Game Department’s regional office here in Idaho Falls to learn what I could do to scare off the hordes of lions lying in wait along the river. 

Gregg Losinski, the Regional Conservation Educator for Fish and Game, graciously took my call.  He didn’t even laugh at me.

First of all, Gregg clarified, while multiple individuals had reported seeing mountain lions in town over the past few weeks, the Fish and Game Department had not found any conclusive evidence of the big cats.  That doesn’t mean there are no lions in town, he said.  But no one from Fish and Game had seen the felines.  At one location, when the “mountain lion” finally appeared before Fish and Game representatives, it was a just a really big house cat. 

According to Gregg, a wild animal in town is not that unusual.  “It's part of the charm of living in Idaho Falls,” he said.  “We are surrounded by wildlife. It’s an incredible place.” 

Gregg said that the Fish and Game team has moved black bears, moose and elk all out of Idaho Falls so far in 2010.  A few years back, they moved 114 moose out of town in one 12-month period. 

“I’m more afraid of a moose than a mountain lion anyway,” Gregg told me. 

I remembered when I was attending college in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  You'd see moose grazing along stretches of lonely highway, and you would slow down.  You don’t want to hit a moose.  Their center of gravity is so high, it would definitely total your car.  And probably kill you.  But a moose scarier than a mountain lion?  No way.

Gregg explained.  “Mountain lions are cats.  You know the phrase “’fraidy cat”?  Cats are smart.  They don’t like people.  They don’t want to be around us.  We scare them.   Maybe one person is killed by a mountain lion every year, in all of the Western United States.  Usually a small child, straggling behind the rest of the family on a hike through the back country."


"You do hear about mountain lion attacks though.” Gregg painted the picture:  joggers and mountain bikers zipping through the woods.  A lion waits up in a tree for prey to pass.  The kitty dozes off, and then is awakened when something whizzes by below. Instinct takes over and the cat pounces.  But as soon as it realizes, hey, this scrawny thing has two legs, not four! – or wheels even! – it takes off. Cats don’t usually want to eat people.

“But a moose.  Well, a moose is bigger than a cat.  More powerful.  And moose aren’t real intelligent creatures.  If they get scared, they will go through whatever is between them and escape.  You, me, a car, a plate glass window, anything.  I once chased a moose through Rexburg, it was literally careening off buildings trying to get out of town.  And a baby moose?  Well, a baby moose is like a great big dumb puppy dog.  He sees a human and wants to come over and say hello!”

“Awwww,” I interrupted.  I am a dog lover, after all.  Cute little baby moose!

“Oh sure, they are cute,” Gregg continued.  “Until Mama Moose follows and defends her little one. Much more dangerous than a mountain lion.” 

I had no idea that dozens, even hundreds, of critters were creeping about Idaho Falls all these years.  “They are all around,” Gregg assured me.  “You don’t see them every day but they are here.  And people think that all the wildlife is over on the east side of the state, near Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, in the wilderness.  But a lot of animals live out in the desert to the west of town too.”

Fish and Game was fielding a lot of calls since the first “reverse 911” alert and news reports.  Someone called in today and reported seeing a lion north of town, near Kelly Canyon ski resort.  Exactly where you’d expect to see a lion. Gregg sighed.  “Two years ago, we didn’t have this technology.  The school district didn’t make those “reverse 911” calls like this.  Awareness is good, but people need to be smart.  If you get a call saying a lion was seen on the golf course across the street, don’t run over to the golf course to see the lion.  If a mountain lion is in town, near people, then it is not acting like a normal lion.  It’s either young or confused, or it’s sick or injured.  Something is wrong if it is here.  We can’t predict how it is going to act.   People need to keep that in mind.”

If a lion did attack a person, even if someone from Fish and Game was at the scene they couldn’t guarantee safety.  “If we shoot a tranquilizer dart, it is not like on TV, when the animal just falls over,” Gregg told me.  “If the shot was good, if you got the drugs through the muscle and into the bloodstream, you are still waiting ten or twelve minutes before the animal is out.  Ten or twelve minutes of the dazed and hurt animal behaving unpredictably.”

The awareness and attention isn’t bad, Gregg concedes.  But more children are accosted by aggressive domestic dogs than are ever attacked by mountain lions.  “It is a good idea to walk with your kids to school,”  Gregg says.  “Find out which dogs are barking at them, learn where the dogs are not in a fenced yard. Be sure the kids are comfortable or find another route.”
 

“Uh-oh,” I thought.  My dog barks at everyone who passes by.  From her perspective, everyone who passes by presents imminent danger and I must be warned.  Mental note:  train Maybelline to differentiate between kids en route to school and really scary people.  Although I must admit, I don’t mind when she barks at the boys in the ‘hood who wear their pants low, with their underwear showing.  What is that, anyway?  Are we in Idaho or L.A.?

And the best defense against a dog, a mountain lion, a Grizzly or even a mugger?  Gregg says, whether in town or in the forest, carry bear spray.  It’s better than a gun.

Thanks to Mr. Losinksi, Maybelline and I will be back to walking along the river again tomorrow.  Odds are, a mountain lion has been watching us for some time.  He's probably more afraid of us than we are of him.

But I’m carrying some bear spray from now on, just in case.

© 2010 Donna Nims.  All rights reserved.