Listen now | A mountain lion walked the streets outside my house, and now it's dead. I'm curious what this fact says about us, and our relationship to nature.
Dec 18, 2022·edited Dec 18, 2022Liked by David Farrier
The poor animal had to be put down, largely, as you say, because of the manmade environment he found himself in. And really, it was astonishing that he hadn't been hit by a car, sooner. I find our collective arrogance and hubris appalling - we, too, are animals and we need Nature in all its forms to be healthy, so that we can thrive. If we destroy the enviroment, we will also destroy our oh-so-important economies. We wipe out eco-system engineers and then - too late - realise how well they looked after the environment for us.
Worse is the colonial aspect of our Western attitudes to apex predators. In the USA wolves are constantly and cruelly kept on the edge of extinction; mountain lions segregated into smaller and smaller areas, 'problem bears' euthanased, ie slaughtered. Landowners in the UK are killing up to 20% of the reintroduced beavers - and given licences to do so. They illegally wipe out birds of prey that have also been reintroduced with care and compassion by others, because they want to protect grouse and pheasant so that wealthy people can go and shoot them. Australian farmers have a no-go zone for dingoes which allows introduced foxes and cats to thrive and send indigenous species to the edge of extinction. They set out shark nets to protect bathers, which entangle whales.
Our environment-wrecking livestock is considered infinitely more important than the other animals (and plants) that are responsible for creating the beautiful planet that we have overrun and are now destroying. HOWEVER, we in the west are full of righteous indignation when we hear about Indian villagers killing a man-eating tiger or African farmers destroying a leopard that is damaging their livestock. The hypocrisy is nauseating.
Yes, a coyote attacking a child is horrible: Government employees setting random cyanide bait to kill the coyotes (and any other poor animal that happens to take the bait) is apparently OK. We have to accept that we are part of nature and that, possibly, we are not always in control. We accept that idiots might drive into us and kill us. In USA, you accept that someone might pull out a gun and shoot you because he thinks you jumped the queue. And yet we cannot accept that we should not only tolerate the rest of nature, but that we actually need it.
I'm sorry for those under 30. They are inheriting a world that is rapidly being denuded and destroyed and they will be unable to save it or themselves. Never mind. Let's console ourselves with buying some new stuff and taking a long-haul flight for a holiday.
This is why I truly despise my own species - it’s hard being a biologist / ecologist & not wanting to tear your and every other naked ape’s hair out at how fucking ecocidal & ignorant we all are of this insane majesty & beauty we are so incredibly privileged to live alongside. But we’re on our merry path to extinguish the lot of it, my beloved coral reefs might even go in my lifetime 😫 While I understand that P22 had to be euthanised, everything else you say is a valid commentary on the outrages we commit against nature on a daily basis. I hate all of this.
Not on the same level at all in terms of “wildlife” I exist alongside with, but I have 2 blackbirds that have decided my small backyard is their home. They alternate their nests between my lemon tree and a big overgrown kawakawa. I’ve been here 5 years and we’ve grown quite accustomed to each other. I’ve named them Nigel and Harriet. When I first moved here I would see them doing their thing only to take flight when I emerged outdoors. But on reflection I must admit the scales have tipped in terms of which party is adapting to accommodate the other, and….it’s me. We’ve gone from normal bird vs human interaction (human comes near, bird briefly departs area) to:
1. Nigel starts yelling at me as soon as he spots me returning home from work - what started as a sporadic offering of my bread crusts has become a fixed demand, and one which I carry out faithfully like a good little human. We’ve upgraded to proper wild seed.
2. I’ve been shown that tossing crumbs or seeds in their general vicinity is NOT ACCEPTABLE, the bread must be placed under the lemon tree largely so it’s largely invisible to other birds - the arrival of other birds is met with an aggressive Harriet. This I have also learned to do.
3. When a nest is in the lemon tree, the tree is no longer mine - many times I’ve been forced to watch perfectly healthy lemons go unharvested so as not to disturb their domestic bliss, or the needs of the chicks that inevitably hatch. Ditto with the kawakawa.
4. Arriving home, any notion of first sitting in the sun with a book & a beer, or returning a FaceTime call to my sister is quickly reconsidered. Nigel thinks nothing of hopping right up next to me squawking his loud little reminders, not fazed by me, or my sisters voice.
5. I’ve parked the notion of adopting a cat (I’m renting though with a view to buying next year so will make this a reality some day!)
So I’d like to think that I’m giving my own nod to nature in my backyard, oh hell let’s call it what it is, I really like these 2 little birds and they’ve done a good job training me. Not as awesome as a mountain lion, but wild nonetheless :)
I think about this all the time, when I see a dead fox on the side of the road, a kangaroo, a possum, a little bird. In Australia, kangaroos that are killed by cars are pulled off the roads and marked with bright crosses which indicate their bodies have been checked for joeys in their pouches. While it indicates someone has attended to it, it’s also the coldest way to treat the end of a little life that has only ended because we built roads that bisect their habitats.
I have been overwhelmed with thoughts and emotions about P-22 but haven't quite been able to put pen to paper to get them out. I've written quite a lengthy essay about it in my head, though, just can't manage to express them eloquently outside of there.
However, a few Webworms back, I discussed how other places (specifically Kenya) handle human-wildlife interaction, so for now I'm just going to repost that here:
"They proactively protect endangered wildlife as well as human settlements (specifically agriculture, as animals frequently invade farms for food and end up injured or killed by farmers protecting their crop). They collaborate with NGOs to reroute elephant herds to safer areas. There is constant air surveillance to look for potential issues as well as injured animals. A few recent examples:
It's a couple months out of date, I need to add some stuff."
(Leaving my linktree plug there since Elon will kick me off the birdapp if I don't delete it from my bio...)
Also wanted to mention this brilliant exhibit from the Bronx Zoo (NYC) back in 1963. It was called "The Most Dangerous Animal in the World." The entire exhibit consisted simply of a single mirror. Brilliant stuff.
CA Fish & Wildlife did so wrong by P-22, and honestly, so did his human neighbors by anthropomorphizing him. I hope we learn something from this; can't think of a better way to honor him.
RIP P22. It really does feel like a local celebrity just died.
I’ve lived in California all my life, and we do take it for granted how much we’re encroaching on wildlife out here. The other day I was pulling out of my sister’s driveway when I spotted a giant fucking bobcat in front of her neighbor’s house, just moseying along. Intellectually, I had known this was their habitat, but it was still startling to see one in the flesh.
Thank you for sharing this David. I thought of you immediately when I read this news, and it's especially timely considering your Bear episode of Flightless Bird.
How incredibly sad!
I always feel small pangs of grief when I see animals on the road that have been hit by cars. Hell, I got sad seeing a dead rat that had gotten attacked by birds. I live very close to a river, so we have lots of little (and big) critters around that coexist with us. I've always been of the mindset that this land is more theirs than ours as my subdivision was built ALONG A RIVER! I thoroughly enjoy looking out the window and seeing a group of raccoons, possums, a foxes, coyotes, crows, hawks, and many other types of birds. I try to respect their space as much as possible.
It makes me sad because if a wild animal happens to attack a human, they are simply being what they are...a wild animal..it's not their fault that we've in some ways given them no other choice but to react.
My heart goes out to you and all of the fellow animal lovers out there mourning P22!
When I was hiking at the Albuquerque Petroglyphs national monument, on my second trip to the US in August 2019, we heard a pack of coyotes go off barking at a plane flying overhead. A local told us they were definitely coyotes. It was cool to hear. I guess being from NZ where the majority of mammals are introduced species, we find native mammals in other countries fascinating. Well, I do anyway. I'm just grateful my Chihuahua mix isn't going to be taken by a coyote or puma any time soon. Amazing P22 survived as long as he did. Cats, even the big ones, and cars don't mix well!
oof this hurts. i think a lot about all the space that humans take up, and why. (for what!?) so many of us are so far removed from nature. it really seems as if we need a collective value system reset. i have so many more thoughts about this but it’s tricky to put them all together
this carousel from one of my all-time favorite instagram accounts just cheered me up a bit:
Great narrative David. Reminded me of a time I was wondering around Berkeley when I stumbled across a 12 point stag and I wasn’t even tripping. Magnificent animal. In NZ some rich guy would have paid $12000 to shoot it. In Berkeley in the 70s it could have been elected Mayor.
Such a tragic story, and thank you for writing about him. Similar tales exist here in Minnesota, especially with wolves, where wildlife is viewed as a nuisance and a threat to humans in residential areas, but rarely do we see ourselves as responsible for that threat nor that we are actually the bigger threat to wildlife.
Based on the injuries P22 sustained, I do believe that euthanasia was the kind and caring option to alleviate his suffering. It is such a tragic story. The entire story of P22 really highlights the often devastating interactions between wildlife and humans. Poor kitty was only trying to survive in an environment that doesn't really resemble his natural environment. Reading about P22 in news articles and especially in this post, I have been emotional. I hope P22's life can be honored by remembering that there are other beings in our world and we must share our space.
While it’s so heartbreaking that P22 was euthanized, and that the cause was human interference, those are some incredibly serious injuries which would have required significant surgical intervention and weeks of recovery in captivity. The goal of wildlife rehab is always to release the animal as soon as possible to avoid the immense (and sometimes deadly) stress of captivity and human interaction. I’m sure the staff working with him would have done anything in their power to help if he could have reasonably been returned to a healthy and wild state.
I've been wondering lately if the best thing would be for humans to go right ahead and self-destruct. We seem hell-bent on it anyway. Some form of life would survive in spite of the conditions we leave, and in a couple of billion years, hopefully the new dominant species would be much better than we are.
It is true that having a "real life" understanding of other animals and what their needs are to survive and thrive, changes how you view things. There are many adaptations we, as humans, can make to how we farm, where we build, forests we protect, trade in animal products we reject, etc. etc. if we accept we are one PART of the puzzle & not the arbiter of how the puzzle is formed. My heart breaks for P22 & the lonely life he must have led by being isolated from his own kind, and am trying not to think about the pain he must have been in from his injuries ...
Owls have always been my "spirit animal" with a soft spot for the Ruru because of encounters in the wild. Then (during COVID lockdown) I found a YouTube channel with a webcam on a Long Eared Owl nest where you could watch 24/7 as the parents chased off the previous occupants (Bald Eagles??), mated, laid & incubated eggs, feed new-born owlets & watched them develop fluff & vestigal wings, then flight feathers & real wings, and perch with their parents in the branches, until finally they fledged ... the webcam community felt so proud!
Since, I have found many other live cams of different owl species, & bald eagles, & Kestrels, & Kakakpo, & Korora (Little Blue Penguins) & Karearea (Falcon) etc. etc.. etc. and been blown away by how much we assumed but didn't KNOW about each & how knowledge built such respect for them as a species and even as distinct individuals.
The point of this diversions from P22 is to say that although I adopted an "Owl" as my spirit animal, I had NO IDEA what an "Owl" actually was, how many different types that exist in different parts of the world, the challenges they face from other creatures in competing for food or not to BE food, and most of all the adaptations they have to make to co-exist with humans.
And these guys can FLY ... they could have flown OVER the motorway that killed P22, but still ... one of my favourites from live cam went missing (behavioural change noted, didn't come home), camera owner went looking & found him drowned in a water trough on a nearby farm ...
The online community cried & grieved and told stories, while 3 helpless young owlets were left without their food provider. In this case humans stepped in & delivered food, and they all survived & fledged, but DROWNED IN A FARM WATER TROUGH is not something a wild owl should worry about, just like HIT BY A CAR on a motorway is not something a magnificent Puma, P22, should have to worry about.
Sometimes you are reminded just how selfish & arrogant the human race is eh? Bulld what you want where you want without taking account of what creatures were already there.
I love cats, but can't own one because AS A HUMAN introducing one of nature's most efficient killers into my garden full of visting birds, doesn't sit right with me, unless/until I can build an outdoor area a cat can't get out of but can play in the sun etc. (still waiting to win the lottery ...)
Humans are OF "nature" but P22 shows how harmful we can be TO 'nature" when WE encroach on THEM!
RIP P22 ... & hugs to all who have been touched by you ... thanks David for giving us this opportunity to reflect & hopefully be more mindful of our own ability to impact our fellow creatures.
The poor animal had to be put down, largely, as you say, because of the manmade environment he found himself in. And really, it was astonishing that he hadn't been hit by a car, sooner. I find our collective arrogance and hubris appalling - we, too, are animals and we need Nature in all its forms to be healthy, so that we can thrive. If we destroy the enviroment, we will also destroy our oh-so-important economies. We wipe out eco-system engineers and then - too late - realise how well they looked after the environment for us.
Worse is the colonial aspect of our Western attitudes to apex predators. In the USA wolves are constantly and cruelly kept on the edge of extinction; mountain lions segregated into smaller and smaller areas, 'problem bears' euthanased, ie slaughtered. Landowners in the UK are killing up to 20% of the reintroduced beavers - and given licences to do so. They illegally wipe out birds of prey that have also been reintroduced with care and compassion by others, because they want to protect grouse and pheasant so that wealthy people can go and shoot them. Australian farmers have a no-go zone for dingoes which allows introduced foxes and cats to thrive and send indigenous species to the edge of extinction. They set out shark nets to protect bathers, which entangle whales.
Our environment-wrecking livestock is considered infinitely more important than the other animals (and plants) that are responsible for creating the beautiful planet that we have overrun and are now destroying. HOWEVER, we in the west are full of righteous indignation when we hear about Indian villagers killing a man-eating tiger or African farmers destroying a leopard that is damaging their livestock. The hypocrisy is nauseating.
Yes, a coyote attacking a child is horrible: Government employees setting random cyanide bait to kill the coyotes (and any other poor animal that happens to take the bait) is apparently OK. We have to accept that we are part of nature and that, possibly, we are not always in control. We accept that idiots might drive into us and kill us. In USA, you accept that someone might pull out a gun and shoot you because he thinks you jumped the queue. And yet we cannot accept that we should not only tolerate the rest of nature, but that we actually need it.
I'm sorry for those under 30. They are inheriting a world that is rapidly being denuded and destroyed and they will be unable to save it or themselves. Never mind. Let's console ourselves with buying some new stuff and taking a long-haul flight for a holiday.
This is why I truly despise my own species - it’s hard being a biologist / ecologist & not wanting to tear your and every other naked ape’s hair out at how fucking ecocidal & ignorant we all are of this insane majesty & beauty we are so incredibly privileged to live alongside. But we’re on our merry path to extinguish the lot of it, my beloved coral reefs might even go in my lifetime 😫 While I understand that P22 had to be euthanised, everything else you say is a valid commentary on the outrages we commit against nature on a daily basis. I hate all of this.
Not on the same level at all in terms of “wildlife” I exist alongside with, but I have 2 blackbirds that have decided my small backyard is their home. They alternate their nests between my lemon tree and a big overgrown kawakawa. I’ve been here 5 years and we’ve grown quite accustomed to each other. I’ve named them Nigel and Harriet. When I first moved here I would see them doing their thing only to take flight when I emerged outdoors. But on reflection I must admit the scales have tipped in terms of which party is adapting to accommodate the other, and….it’s me. We’ve gone from normal bird vs human interaction (human comes near, bird briefly departs area) to:
1. Nigel starts yelling at me as soon as he spots me returning home from work - what started as a sporadic offering of my bread crusts has become a fixed demand, and one which I carry out faithfully like a good little human. We’ve upgraded to proper wild seed.
2. I’ve been shown that tossing crumbs or seeds in their general vicinity is NOT ACCEPTABLE, the bread must be placed under the lemon tree largely so it’s largely invisible to other birds - the arrival of other birds is met with an aggressive Harriet. This I have also learned to do.
3. When a nest is in the lemon tree, the tree is no longer mine - many times I’ve been forced to watch perfectly healthy lemons go unharvested so as not to disturb their domestic bliss, or the needs of the chicks that inevitably hatch. Ditto with the kawakawa.
4. Arriving home, any notion of first sitting in the sun with a book & a beer, or returning a FaceTime call to my sister is quickly reconsidered. Nigel thinks nothing of hopping right up next to me squawking his loud little reminders, not fazed by me, or my sisters voice.
5. I’ve parked the notion of adopting a cat (I’m renting though with a view to buying next year so will make this a reality some day!)
So I’d like to think that I’m giving my own nod to nature in my backyard, oh hell let’s call it what it is, I really like these 2 little birds and they’ve done a good job training me. Not as awesome as a mountain lion, but wild nonetheless :)
I think about this all the time, when I see a dead fox on the side of the road, a kangaroo, a possum, a little bird. In Australia, kangaroos that are killed by cars are pulled off the roads and marked with bright crosses which indicate their bodies have been checked for joeys in their pouches. While it indicates someone has attended to it, it’s also the coldest way to treat the end of a little life that has only ended because we built roads that bisect their habitats.
I have been overwhelmed with thoughts and emotions about P-22 but haven't quite been able to put pen to paper to get them out. I've written quite a lengthy essay about it in my head, though, just can't manage to express them eloquently outside of there.
However, a few Webworms back, I discussed how other places (specifically Kenya) handle human-wildlife interaction, so for now I'm just going to repost that here:
"They proactively protect endangered wildlife as well as human settlements (specifically agriculture, as animals frequently invade farms for food and end up injured or killed by farmers protecting their crop). They collaborate with NGOs to reroute elephant herds to safer areas. There is constant air surveillance to look for potential issues as well as injured animals. A few recent examples:
https://www.instagram.com/p/ClZO_OsOUtT/
https://www.instagram.com/p/ClQ9O7vux55/
https://www.instagram.com/p/ClYYnl2o_yH/
https://www.instagram.com/p/ClQZ7y8MFZi/
One of these orgs also recently rescued a 3yr old local boy who was lost in the bush overnight, so community protection is a huge priority as well.
For more, you can check out my personally curated list of organizations I trust:
https://linktr.ee/vocklobster
It's a couple months out of date, I need to add some stuff."
(Leaving my linktree plug there since Elon will kick me off the birdapp if I don't delete it from my bio...)
Also wanted to mention this brilliant exhibit from the Bronx Zoo (NYC) back in 1963. It was called "The Most Dangerous Animal in the World." The entire exhibit consisted simply of a single mirror. Brilliant stuff.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Most_Dangerous_Animal_in_the_World
CA Fish & Wildlife did so wrong by P-22, and honestly, so did his human neighbors by anthropomorphizing him. I hope we learn something from this; can't think of a better way to honor him.
RIP P22. It really does feel like a local celebrity just died.
I’ve lived in California all my life, and we do take it for granted how much we’re encroaching on wildlife out here. The other day I was pulling out of my sister’s driveway when I spotted a giant fucking bobcat in front of her neighbor’s house, just moseying along. Intellectually, I had known this was their habitat, but it was still startling to see one in the flesh.
Thank you for sharing this David. I thought of you immediately when I read this news, and it's especially timely considering your Bear episode of Flightless Bird.
How incredibly sad!
I always feel small pangs of grief when I see animals on the road that have been hit by cars. Hell, I got sad seeing a dead rat that had gotten attacked by birds. I live very close to a river, so we have lots of little (and big) critters around that coexist with us. I've always been of the mindset that this land is more theirs than ours as my subdivision was built ALONG A RIVER! I thoroughly enjoy looking out the window and seeing a group of raccoons, possums, a foxes, coyotes, crows, hawks, and many other types of birds. I try to respect their space as much as possible.
It makes me sad because if a wild animal happens to attack a human, they are simply being what they are...a wild animal..it's not their fault that we've in some ways given them no other choice but to react.
My heart goes out to you and all of the fellow animal lovers out there mourning P22!
When I was hiking at the Albuquerque Petroglyphs national monument, on my second trip to the US in August 2019, we heard a pack of coyotes go off barking at a plane flying overhead. A local told us they were definitely coyotes. It was cool to hear. I guess being from NZ where the majority of mammals are introduced species, we find native mammals in other countries fascinating. Well, I do anyway. I'm just grateful my Chihuahua mix isn't going to be taken by a coyote or puma any time soon. Amazing P22 survived as long as he did. Cats, even the big ones, and cars don't mix well!
oof this hurts. i think a lot about all the space that humans take up, and why. (for what!?) so many of us are so far removed from nature. it really seems as if we need a collective value system reset. i have so many more thoughts about this but it’s tricky to put them all together
this carousel from one of my all-time favorite instagram accounts just cheered me up a bit:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CmW7jjNpreN/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
Great narrative David. Reminded me of a time I was wondering around Berkeley when I stumbled across a 12 point stag and I wasn’t even tripping. Magnificent animal. In NZ some rich guy would have paid $12000 to shoot it. In Berkeley in the 70s it could have been elected Mayor.
Such a tragic story, and thank you for writing about him. Similar tales exist here in Minnesota, especially with wolves, where wildlife is viewed as a nuisance and a threat to humans in residential areas, but rarely do we see ourselves as responsible for that threat nor that we are actually the bigger threat to wildlife.
Based on the injuries P22 sustained, I do believe that euthanasia was the kind and caring option to alleviate his suffering. It is such a tragic story. The entire story of P22 really highlights the often devastating interactions between wildlife and humans. Poor kitty was only trying to survive in an environment that doesn't really resemble his natural environment. Reading about P22 in news articles and especially in this post, I have been emotional. I hope P22's life can be honored by remembering that there are other beings in our world and we must share our space.
Today I drove past Griffith Park and I thought to myself just how empty it looks now that P-22 is no longer there.
Sigh.
R.I.P. (Roam in Peace) P-22.
While it’s so heartbreaking that P22 was euthanized, and that the cause was human interference, those are some incredibly serious injuries which would have required significant surgical intervention and weeks of recovery in captivity. The goal of wildlife rehab is always to release the animal as soon as possible to avoid the immense (and sometimes deadly) stress of captivity and human interaction. I’m sure the staff working with him would have done anything in their power to help if he could have reasonably been returned to a healthy and wild state.
I've been wondering lately if the best thing would be for humans to go right ahead and self-destruct. We seem hell-bent on it anyway. Some form of life would survive in spite of the conditions we leave, and in a couple of billion years, hopefully the new dominant species would be much better than we are.
It is true that having a "real life" understanding of other animals and what their needs are to survive and thrive, changes how you view things. There are many adaptations we, as humans, can make to how we farm, where we build, forests we protect, trade in animal products we reject, etc. etc. if we accept we are one PART of the puzzle & not the arbiter of how the puzzle is formed. My heart breaks for P22 & the lonely life he must have led by being isolated from his own kind, and am trying not to think about the pain he must have been in from his injuries ...
Owls have always been my "spirit animal" with a soft spot for the Ruru because of encounters in the wild. Then (during COVID lockdown) I found a YouTube channel with a webcam on a Long Eared Owl nest where you could watch 24/7 as the parents chased off the previous occupants (Bald Eagles??), mated, laid & incubated eggs, feed new-born owlets & watched them develop fluff & vestigal wings, then flight feathers & real wings, and perch with their parents in the branches, until finally they fledged ... the webcam community felt so proud!
Since, I have found many other live cams of different owl species, & bald eagles, & Kestrels, & Kakakpo, & Korora (Little Blue Penguins) & Karearea (Falcon) etc. etc.. etc. and been blown away by how much we assumed but didn't KNOW about each & how knowledge built such respect for them as a species and even as distinct individuals.
The point of this diversions from P22 is to say that although I adopted an "Owl" as my spirit animal, I had NO IDEA what an "Owl" actually was, how many different types that exist in different parts of the world, the challenges they face from other creatures in competing for food or not to BE food, and most of all the adaptations they have to make to co-exist with humans.
And these guys can FLY ... they could have flown OVER the motorway that killed P22, but still ... one of my favourites from live cam went missing (behavioural change noted, didn't come home), camera owner went looking & found him drowned in a water trough on a nearby farm ...
The online community cried & grieved and told stories, while 3 helpless young owlets were left without their food provider. In this case humans stepped in & delivered food, and they all survived & fledged, but DROWNED IN A FARM WATER TROUGH is not something a wild owl should worry about, just like HIT BY A CAR on a motorway is not something a magnificent Puma, P22, should have to worry about.
Sometimes you are reminded just how selfish & arrogant the human race is eh? Bulld what you want where you want without taking account of what creatures were already there.
I love cats, but can't own one because AS A HUMAN introducing one of nature's most efficient killers into my garden full of visting birds, doesn't sit right with me, unless/until I can build an outdoor area a cat can't get out of but can play in the sun etc. (still waiting to win the lottery ...)
Humans are OF "nature" but P22 shows how harmful we can be TO 'nature" when WE encroach on THEM!
RIP P22 ... & hugs to all who have been touched by you ... thanks David for giving us this opportunity to reflect & hopefully be more mindful of our own ability to impact our fellow creatures.