A night in Canada

C

Crotalus

Arachnoking
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 14, 2002
Messages
2,433
We went out last night trying to find mostly wolf or bear. We saw hundrads of deer, mostly whitetailed, but a few mule deer aswell. Some skunks and a fox but no sign of a wolf or bear. We did find a very cold garter snake in the rain, plus some toads and frogs which is always fun to see. But the big predators eluded us.

We drove back home and in the city we turned on the radio and the news sad a black bear was spotted inside the city! They even told in what area so we hurried to that area and when we got close to it we saw a truck parked at a bridge pelar with something large and dark with plastic over it. Maybe it was the bear and they just shot it? We turned around and when we got there the truck was gone and under the plastic was three homeless people..

Quickly we drove off and listened to the next news broadcast and now they even told on what street the bear was and that it was up in a tree! We stopped at a gas station, got directions and when we finally found a bear this night it was up in a tree on a old couples backyard. A slightly bizarre situation - especially after no sleep and a night of bearhunting in prime bear habitat..

The bear was sedated with tranqulizers but it remained up in the tree for quite a while. After a while it fell down and they put a few more tranquilizer darts in her until she was groggy enough to be moved safely.



The tree:


The bear:
 
Sheri

Sheri

Arachnoking
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 29, 2003
Messages
2,355
It should also be noted that when a reporter showed up, he phones in his report with inaccurate information - which would have taken about 30 seconds to find out, had he not been so eager to file it.

Moron. We corrected it but I mean... if they can't even cover a bear in the tree story accurately... :)


Funnier though, was that we'd joked before about finding out bears were in the city while we were out looking for them. And when we look, we go hardcore, usually 8-12 hours a time.

Not the easiest animals to find despite the fact that Manitoba has 30,000 of them...
 
D

DE3

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 15, 2004
Messages
175
I hope I'm somewhat on-topic here, but locally there have been numerous sightings of mountain lions for a couple of years. Both in town, and Statewide (Iowa).
Straining their eyes as they walked toward the animal lying near a sidewalk adjacent to the UI Finkbine Golf Course on Sunday, Jim and Margie Ebert tried to identify what exactly was 200 feet in front of them. Was it a big dog? Maybe a wolf?

As the couple moved closer, it became clear - it was a massive mountain lion.

University Heights Police Chief Ronald Fort said Thursday his department will wait until the first snowfall to try to track the animal. The snow will aid the search for tracks, deer carcasses, and other signs of mountain-lion habitation.

The promise comes after Jim Ebert wrote a letter on Monday to the Iowa City and University Heights City Councils complaining that they do not have a policy to deal with mountain lions.

He said he was worried about a mountain-lion hunting in the wooded areas that border his University Heights neighborhood.

Fort said he knows of seven other recent reports of people spotting mountain lions in the area - five from the town of Downey, one from Hills, and one from Solon.

After spotting the mountain lion and watching it walk down to a nearby ravine with its long ropey tail, Jim Ebert called the Iowa City police and UI police the following morning. He also called the Iowa Department of Natural Resources but was told unless he found tracks or took a picture of the animal, there was little the department could do.

This upset Jim Ebert, who has filmed cheetahs, lions, and leopards during 12 separate trips to East Africa. He and a UI police officer were unable to find tracks, but Jim Ebert said he is sure he saw a mountain lion.

"I'd stake my life on it, absolutely 100 percent," he said. "It should not be the lack of a conformation of a footprint resulting in not warning the community."

Jeff Joens, the executive officer of the Wildlife Bureau at Natural Resources, admitted that the department didn't have a specific policy for mountain lions because they are so rare in Iowa.

He mentioned only three confirmed mountain-lion sightings in the last two years - one was killed by hunters, another was hit by a car, and a third was run over by a combine.

"Unless we have some evidence, what good is it going to do us to get out there?" he said. "If they just say they spotted it and haven't confirmed it, do you want to spend taxpayer money going to investigate it?"

Typically, mountain lions have a home range encompassing approximately 100-200 square miles, Joens said, and without a series of sightings to establish a pattern, Natural Resources can do little.

"It's kind of like chasing a ghost," he said.

Ebert doesn't buy that explanation, saying safety concerns for area residents, especially small children, should require at least some official investigation.

E-mail DI reporter Jim Butts at:
Click to expand...
<credible witness Jim Ebert>
 
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