one large kitty

This lion was hit between Prescott and Ashfork by a car.Game and Fish had to come and put him down.He charged at the Fish and Game guy in the process. Look at his PAWS!.
Mickey

My gosh he was big.

Look at the size of his paws. Too bad the kitty had to go...
Mickey

Can you imagine the Purrrr he would of had?

Wow he is/was huge. Too sad that he was hit.

huge paws! It really is a shame.

Wow... I had no idea we had cats that big in AZ!

Brenda,
About 8 years ago I had one run in front of my car at out house. He was a BIG kitty!
Mickey

Brenda: I think out of all of us you would be the most likely to see on of those! Don't you live near mountains?

That is so darn sad~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Poor baby. How sad.

i had no idea they were that large.

now i see why you shouldn't assist a downed animal.

What? That's ridiculous. I would always assist a hurt animal. I would just use the appropriate caution if it looked like it was the type of animal that would like to eat me for lunch! LOL!

it depends on the circumstances.

Thanks for the sad thoughts on a Friday evening! Sheesh! LOL! I love wildcats and would love to be able to pet or play with one! They couldn't do anything to save the puma/mountain lion? Poor kitty, should stay away from the roads!

I can't read stuff like this without tears and sorrow. Horrible. Don't want to hear it.

Its what happens when we encroach on their territory.... I used to live in the Coastal Mtns on the San Francisco Bay Peninsula. Driving to college everyday, almost everyday I saw deer lying at the side of the road having been hit by autos. Almost daily.

This is so unfortunate that this magnificient guy (it is huge) had to be taken out by a mere auto. No honor in that. I hope he lived a magnificient life.

Thank you for sharing, Mickey.

I, for one, could have done without the picture. Very poor taste.

Clare,
You need to check out the photos of my niece walking her mountain lion that she was in charge of when she was in South America. The photo's are under a new topic. House cats...
Wineaux,
Sorry you feel that the photos are in poor taste. I think it is important for people to see that wild life is out here and we need to drive carefuly . It was terrible that a mountain lion that large or any mountain lion had to be put down.
Many wild animals have to be put down and we don't always hear about it. Some times even when we do only half of the story is told as not to freighted the general population.
Remember we have moved into their turf.
I do not live in Central Phoenix.
Mickey

This message was edited Jan 25, 2008 10:48 PM

sticking by my thought...pictures of dead animals under any circumstance are disturbing...the picture of a dead cat with a man grinning proudly over it, is disturbing. Your rational is , well, just disturbing..

Fishie, where's that MG? You know, the one that brings peace...

Hi Mickey,
appreciate the pics. I'm going to show them to my nephew who lives up around Prescott and drives like a bat out of hell - may save his and some animal lives. Also, some of the kids from my school are going to one of the camps outside of Prescott - maybe they'll rethink that sneaking outside to smoke.....

Jackie

Thanks for the pic's Mickey. Unbelievable how large that cat is.
Several years ago I worked in Prescott and lived in Prescott Valley and I would take the backroad into Prescott in the morning. I worked 10hour shifts so I'd have to leave the house when it was still pretty dark in the morning. One morning there were several cars in front of me and the car right in front of me hit a deer that sprang out from the bushes beside the road. There was no way he could have missed that deer. Did some serious damage to his car too.

Not sure if any of you have seen that show where they interviews and re-enact people that have been attacked by mountain lions and I always think why didnt they just throw the cat off them or scare the cat off? After seeing this pic there is no way you would be able to throw that cat off you. And if you tried to scare it would probably do a big kitty laugh at you while wondering what would be the tastiest part of this human.

rayman,

Go look at the other cat phots of my niece with her "cat " in South America. Her's is smaller. It's under the topic of House Cats.
Did you ever have a house cat claw you? You can imagen a pumas huge claws in you.

We have deer runing out in front fo our car all the time here in CC. One night we were hit even by a javelina. Just a new lens for the car light cars cost a bunch.


Mickey

This message was edited Jan 27, 2008 8:59 AM

Someone brought peace!

Did someone edit the peace?

I think so. We can all have differences of opinion but we just need to keep it civil.

I saw those pics and that is very neat what your niece is doing and what a great cause.
Have I ever had a cat claw me? LOL
I currently have three cats in our house and one of them is named Mad Max who was an orphan that a neighborhood cat left in an old empty strawberry pot I had in the backyard. I swear that cat is part bobcat. Nose, ears, disposition, all part crap head, I mean bobcat.
He's a better watch dog than our dog is.
He absolutely hates strangers and other family members that come over. But the strange thing is that he's the biggest love bug with kids and my wife and me. They can pick him up and he goes limp.
An adult comes near him and you better be wearing welding gloves.
One of the stupider things I do with him is play the game where my hand is a claw and he will lay his ears back and when he latches onto me it draws blood and me screeching. LOL
And his paws are probably the size of the small toe on the cat above.

Good Grief Ray! Death wish? That is so interesting that the cat is like a dog in the loyalty sense! Take a pic of Mad Max so we can see him!

Ray, here's my advice... it's intricate... WEAR GLOVES! Or, as I do when I play with my cats when I'm making the bed... keep a layer of fabric between your skin and the claws! LOL!

Mary,
I edited my post. I must have spelled something wrong. Were is spell check???

Mary,
I edited my post. I must have spelled something wrong. Were is spell check???
Mickey

What a beautiful animal he was, so sad. I have heard stories from ranchers that they often measure 6 or 8 feet in length, this one looks like he did. I also read a story this summer of Pumas being back in SW NM and AZ. They are the large black cats right?

Puma, mountain lion, cougar, catamount....all the same animal, just called different names in different areas.

Now I recall it was Jaguars
http://www.swjag.org/history.html

This message was edited Jan 28, 2008 10:45 AM

FYI...
A jaguar had been cought on film South of Tucson. It wa a young male in August of 1996.

The jaguar had been placed on the federal endangered species list in Jluy of 1997

If you see one please make notes of the location and charateristics such as size and color and posture and behavior of the animal. Call Van Pelt to report the sighting at 602 789 3573. Photos or viedo would be very helpfull. Any sign like scat or hair would also be helpful if found. (Please don't pull the hair our of the kitty!)

There have been 63 reported sightings since 1900's in Arizona.

They use to roam as far north as the Grand Canyon.

Killing a Jajuar can get you a $100,000 fine and one year in jail.


Mickey

The 'jaguar' has been determined to not have a viable population in AZ, and was therefore delisted as an endangered species. Hows that for logic? If we kill and turn their home range into houses for humans, theres too few of them left to consider viable, therefore we dont have to list them as an endangered species. Cant wait for this administration to leave office....
DD

Desert Dreamer,
I didn't know that. The newspaper clipping I have must be a few years old. It's very sad that they delisted it. I thought that I read that another jaguar was sited recently.
Mickey

thats a big tom. was gonna say more but want to be civil, dont think picture in bad taste. thanks for posting.

OK...I know that some of you are not going to like this but here goes anyway.

Having lived where there have been lion attacks and one person killed and partially eaten I would not hesitate to dispatch one of these animals if it was anywhere near a populated area. Some may say that we have invaded their area and that is true . But that's just the way things progress. We are now the dominate animal/predator and if other creatures, particulary those that pose a threat to humans, cannot move on to safer areas for themselves, then they will perish. Some animals can be detered and others captured and relocated and I applaude and support those efforts but sometimes the hard reality is that a particular animal must be eliminated. In the case of this cat it sounds like it was an accident and the animal was injured enough that the Fish and Game guy decide it was best to put it down.

That's just my opinion.