Courtesy of animal-lover and reader Diane G. we have two videos today, both showing the release of an orphaned or trapped animal back to the wild.
First, courtesy of KSL.com, the release of a large cougar whose front paw was caught in a bobcat trap in Utah (and why, exactly, are they trapping bobcats?)
DWR conservation officer Mark Ekins said he often responds to help trappers release cougars, which are accidentally caught in traps meant for coyotes or bobcats. Ekins said it is illegal to intentionally trap a cougar in Utah, and so when trappers discover a mountain lion in their trap, they are legally required to release the animal and report it to DWR officials within 48 hours
. . . Ekins said he responded to a call to help release a cougar in the Pine Valley Mountains Dec. 17. He said it was one of the largest cougars he has ever had to release from a trap, and so he decided to film the incident.
“Anytime we do something that the public doesn’t see all the time, I will video some of it,” he said.
Ekins and the trapper used several catch poles on the cougar’s head and back foot to get it to lie down and stretch out so they could release its front foot from the trap. The 6-minute video shows the intense scenario, but the cougar was eventually released and ran off after resting for a moment. Ekins said releasing a large animal is always slightly nerve-wracking.
There’s more of the story at the site.
Would you even attempt this? That cat is mad!
And. . . a squirrel rescue in Malaysia:
‘That cat is mad’
With bloody good reason.
sub
And that of course is why the trapping should be illegal. You will catch everything you do not want to catch. Extremely inhumane.
I totally agree. It’s very cruel.
That cougar video is awe inspiring. WTF are these traps even allowed? Do we have an excess of bobcats? It’s obscene.
Humans are so damn good at using tools, and at cooperating when using them, even when one of the participants is green.
I totally agree! Some years ago we volunteered on an Earthwatch project radio tracking cougar in southern Idaho/northern Utah. We were fortunate to be present when a nine-month old cougar named Benny was captured to change his radio collar since he was out-growing the one he was wearing. This was effected using a general anaesthetic delivered by a dart gun. I wonder why the wild life officers are not provided with such, since it seems that that would be less stressful for all concerned!
BTW, sadly Bennie was shot by some b*st*rd about a year later who returned his collar to the chief investigator of the project. At that time (1997) there was an open season on cougar in Idaho. I do hope that is not still the case?
Maybe having dart guns adds to the overhead and some operations just don’t have the budget for that.
I don’t know about “open season”, but cougars are hunted in Idaho. They’re hunted with dogs that tree the cats, then they’re easily shot. Some more enlightened people just take a photo.
Sorry if I’ve used the wrong term re the hunting. It’s a pity that they are still hunted!
What is their conservation status? I think I recall hearing that the Florida subspecies has been declared extinct?
Here in OZ all native species are protected. Kangaroos can be shot, but only with a permit for a specific number which are processed for human consumption. The farmers don’t like this since their consider ‘roos to be a pest.
Generally shooting is limited to rabbits and foxes both of which were introduced.
Yes, I wondered why they didn’t anesthetize the cougar as that would have made the operation safer for the animal and the rescuers and would also have allowed some first aid to be applied to the paw that had been in the trap.
Putting aside the matter of trapping in the first place, I was extremely impressed with the two conservation officers! The more experienced one was preternaturally calm and patient; actually, they both were, the former just had to plot out the rescue in addition to carrying it out and teaching his coworker simultaneously. I should think it would take tremendous strength to hold onto a snare pole like that with a ginormous furious cat on the other end, plus the slope of that terrain was pretty inauspicious, with the agent tilted precariously above the lion.
I do abhor leg-hold traps, but I note in the write-up that they are now designed to do much less damage than the older style ones. I would have thought the flailing of the cat would have compounded the damage, though.
Stephen, do you see cougars on your ranch?
Correction: one conservation officer and one trapper.
They’re around, but rarely seen. One was killed on the highway a few years ago. They prefer the higher elevations.
I would not want to try to rescue that cat without at least 4 people – and poles. One pissed pusser!
“They’re around, but rarely seen.”
As it should be. There are places (inc. some in Colorado) where they’ve become habituated to humans, which is bad for both species.
(As you know.)
help trappers?????? the trapper should have been tied to a tree and the cougar let do with it what it would. trappers are nothing more than cowards.
yes, I know, if the trapper didn’t fess up that it was an *sshole, the cougar would be worse off. the trapper caused the problem in the first place.
Cruel assholes trap bobcats so indifferent assholes can wear fur–leghold traps should be banned
The use of ‘accident’ is one of my peeves with traffic collisions. The worse is the ‘drunk driving accident’.
I get that accident refers to an undesired outcome, and that applies here. But it also implies not reasonably avoidable. Pretty sure there would be no cougars ‘accidentally’ stepping in traps if trappers didn’t leave traps lying around.
My thought exactly. More like “inevitably”…
… I hate the thought of any animal being trapped that way.
Oh, that poor lion! Inhumane traps should be illegal — period!
I wondered why they allowed it to run off with the catchpole noose around its neck- wouldn’t it have been possible that the cat might have run off with it completely, only to get hung up later and die an even worse death? I understand that it was going to be difficult getting it off, and the cougar’s actions at that point uncontrolled and unpredictable- perhaps there was no knot at the end of the noose cord, but when they found it, the loop was intact.
The loop is large, and when it’s placed around an animal’s neck or extremity, it is manually shortened by pulling its knotted end through the pole’s built-in hole. Then, rather than fastening it, the excess rope is manually held, along with the pole. So, when the human at one end releases the pole, the loop at the other end opens back up, and the animal can safely extricate.
The only risk I see is if, like one of my cats, the animal tries to step through the loop rather than back out.
And in addition to what Doc said, note too that they tracked the cougar after it took off. Thus if the pole did create any problems for the cat they’d likely have found it and been able to intervene again.