Zoo Visitor Killed After He Ate All Of The Animals On Display
July 7, 2009
A mountain lion cleaned out all the exhibits in a petting zoo in Arizona before a hunter was called in to kill the cat.
In 40 years on the Agua Linda Farm, Loew said this was first large cat he had seen when it appeared in the donkey pen about a month ago.
But soon, his animals started to turn up mauled or dead. First there were four sheep. Then, on June 15, an awful sight: 16 pygmy and nubian goats — all the mammals in the farm’s petting zoo — were killed. Only the geese were spared.
Loew and his wife, Laurel, who run the all-natural, community-supported farm, faced a tough choice: Try to kill the wild cat or put their animals and possibly their farm’s visitors — including many children — at some risk.
“We were really conflicted,” Stewart Loew said.
But when they thought about it, there was no choice. They had a garlic and onion festival coming up the next weekend at the farm, and people would be walking in the dark through areas where the mountain lion was making regular kills.
They called a family acquaintance who is a mountain lion hunter and got a “depredation permit” from Arizona Game and Fish — a permit to kill an animal that has been eating people’s livestock.
Hunting is an important management tool in controlling wildlife and it is good to see it was used in this sad situation. A small petting zoo was a tempting hunting ground for this cat and killing it was necessary before it took a human life. What lead to the cat hanging out at the farm?
several factors can cause mountain lions to start encroaching on human lands.
Among them: A younger mountain lion could have chased the older cat out of its home territory. That’s the theory an Arizona Game and Fish warden endorsed when looking into the case, Loew said.
Or the mountain lion could have been injured and found easy access to food and water at the farm, which is near the Santa Cruz River. Or long-term drought may have slowly made the cat’s territory unhabitable.
Many human factors could have contributed to the lion’s settling in at the farm, too. Urbanization, even in semi-rural areas like the river valley of Santa Cruz County, drives some animals out of their habitat. It may also lead to the animals more easily growing used to humans.
What will be the impact on this family business? Will some regulars boycott the farm because of this? I sure hope not I hope that the farm continues and is successful.
Whatever the cause, the petting-zoo slaughter shook up the Loews, who have a 12-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl.
“My poor kids. These are their pets that they’ve raised, and they had to help bury them,” Laurel Loew said.
They didn’t want to kill the mountain lion, and now they’re worried about restocking the little petting zoo before October, when kids arrive for pumpkin picking. They’re also worried about a backlash from their environmentally conscious customers.
“For us, this story has no winners,” Stewart Loew said.
Arizona Daily Star
I like to think I’m an “environmentally conscious customer” and I love to provide organic free range meat for my family so hunting is a natural holistic way to provide that. If I lived in Arizona I’d stop by this farm and buy something.
Moose Droppings is a place that chronicles my journey, Ill explore new places and ideas Ill learn new things and Ill teach the things Ive learned to others. Join me on the adventure and hopefully it will help you in your outdoor endeavors.
