Less than a week after withdrawing from the GOP presidential skirmish, Wilson's handlers decided their boss needed to flex his political muscle after having been virtually ignored in the national arena. To prove his manhood was still intact, he set his sights on a community of Californians that have no voice, no choice, and because of the ever-expanding circle of human encroachment, no place to run. Both of the fatal incidents happened in mountain lion habitat, not in the playground of a local elementary school. Death is not the issue. The 'staggering' total of 14 fatalities attributable to cougars in more than 200 years are dwarfed by the thousands killed each year by alcohol and cigarettes.
Propaganda issued by hunting enthusiasts claim that mountain lions kill pets and live stock.
To provide a bit of balance, far more pets end up as road kill than lion dinners. If hunters were really concerned about human safety, they would put down their guns. In California alone, hunting accidents killed 23 people and injured 220 more between 1985 and 1993. It seems downright absurd to claim that cougars are more of a threat to public safety than hunters. The hunter doesn't care about the welfare of an ecosystem, he just cares about getting a rush off of trying to kill the few remaining predators with a 20th century gun.