A 70-year old man was hiking with his wife at Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park on Wednesday when he was attacked by a mountain lion. His wife basically saved his life by beating the cougar with a stick and stabbing it with a pen. Game wardens closed the park and sent dogs to track the lion and eventually tracked and killed a pair of mountain lions. The man underwent surgery for lacerations on his head and body and is currently in fair condition.
LINK: Washington Post Article
UPDATE: (January 29, 2007) The 70-year old man was rushed to the hospital over the weekend when his condition went from fair to serious and doctors had to perform emergency surgery to his scalp. It has also been verified that one of the two mountain lions that were found and killed (the female cougar) had human blood in her claws.
January 26th, 2007
I received this email and thought this was interesting to pass along if you are interested in improving Utah’s RAC meeting system and the process for public input.
FYI - You can also find this survey on the DWR website.
The Division has a complex and time-consuming process to gather public input on wildlife policy. The cornerstones of this process are the Regional Advisory Councils (RAC’s), which are charged with gathering public input from the grass roots level on matters concerning wildlife management, policy, rules and regulations and make recommendations to the Wildlife Board in an advisory capacity. Since being enacted by the Legislature 12 years ago, the public process has grown to also include statewide ad hoc committees that provide input into the development of species management plans.
As the process has evolved, some concerns have surfaced about the public input process. Some citizens feel they are not being heard. Others wonder if an adequate cross section of pubic opinion is being solicited. Some DWR employees have become frustrated with the process. Some RAC members are similarly frustrated when the Wildlife Board does not follow their recommendations. These are just a small representation of comments overheard at RAC meetings.
While many good things have resulted from the RAC process, there may be ways to improve it. I have asked the Southeastern Region Leadership Team to evaluate the current process and see if it can be improved within existing rule and statute. This project aims to identify what is working with the RAC process, what is not working; and what solutions can be implemented to provide better efficiency and effectiveness for all parties involved.
Your input into this process is essential. Your experiences will be invaluable in helping to assess our current situation and come up with ways to improve the process. Will you please take ten to twelve minutes and complete the survey located at the link below:
LINK: www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=935712818968
In order to make sure you response is included, please complete the survey by 2/1. Results from this project will be compiled within the next several months and shared with you at that time.
Thank you,
Jim Karpowitz, Director
Utah Division of Wildlife Resources
January 26th, 2007
