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CNN Live Saturday

Californians Used to Wild Animals on Loose

Aired June 01, 2002 - 17:26   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
And last week, a mountain lion made national news after wandering into a back yard in California, where he got stuck in a fence. Many viewers who saw the image may have been surprised to see a wild animal wander so close to civilization. But for many Californians, it's nothing new. CNN's Ann McDermott (ph) has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANN MCDERMOTT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Californians take their critters in stride. Moose in the pool? No problem. Bear in the hot tub? Boy, you can almost hear him say "Ahh!" But this mountain lion in the back yard of a Monrovia home wasn't so lucky. She was killed. State fish and game officials said there were just too many people around to get her safely tranquilized and relocated.

LT. ANGEL RATON, CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME DEPT.: When we have the situations where public safety's an issue -- there was kids all around -- we could not -- we had no other choice.

MCDERMOTT: Why do they come? Because we push them out and then we lure them back in again.

MARTINE COLLETTE, WILDLIFE WAY STATION: We plant trees and shrubs and flowers and fruit trees and nut trees and vegetable gardens. We create artificial pools, ponds.

MCDERMOTT (on camera): We have water...

COLLETTE: We have water.

Turn around there. Come on.

MCDERMOTT (voice-over): Martine Collette knows about saving animals. She runs the Wildlife Way Station in Tahuga (ph), California, home to more than 700 creatures who've been abandoned by man or nature. And she has lions and tigers and bears. Oh, yeah. And she has lots and lots of mountain lions. They are endangered in some parts of the country but not in California, though they cannot be hunted here. They can, however, be killed if they are judged to be a danger. And according to the results of an animal autopsy done on the Monrovia lion, the creature had eaten a dog.

Now, coyotes have been known to eat dogs, too. This year southern Californians have reported lots of back yard wildlife sightings, and authorities say part of the blame lies with the drought. Animals know suburbia has water. Collette says people must learn to cohabit with these creatures, to build fences and other barriers that will keep us safe from wildlife and to keep the wildlife safe from us.

Ann McDermott, CNN, Los Angeles.

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