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蘇珊 J.特韋特，Writers on the Range, 05.10.00
 在我的桌子上有一張刊登於報上的相片，內爾達.威廉斯，76歲，住在愛達荷的Arbon 山谷，手裡捧著一支.點22步槍。威廉斯的表情冷酷，她剛射殺了一頭美洲獅，這頭美洲獅殺死了她的澳洲牧犬後還沿著她的前面門廊追著她的貓。
在美國西部大多數的州法律規定，如果美洲獅威脅你的生命或財產(包括家畜和寵物)的安全，那麼殺死牠是合法的行為。威廉斯因此有合法的權利殺死那頭獅子。但是她有道德上的權利嗎？
擺在眼前的事實是美洲獅是肉食動物，生物學家估計一頭成年的美洲獅一個星期需要相當一頭鹿那樣多的食物才能生存。如果不能獵捕到鹿，他們將殺死無論從麋鹿和豪豬到家畜和澳洲牧犬的各種動物。
哇，好大的貓
 我記得我第一次看見美洲獅的情景。那時我正在懷俄明州的西北部繪製植物族群分布圖，我爬下乾燥的溪床以調查一個隱蔽洞穴，洞穴的地下散佈著鹿的骨頭和獅子的足印。
突然，我聽見了一陣低聲咆哮從頭頂上傳來。我頸子上的汗毛都豎了起來，我往頭上15英尺高的峽谷邊一看，一張碩大的、黃褐色的貓臉正往下注視著我。
有好長一段時間，我站在那裏與那頭美洲獅相互瞪視著。當我回過神來，一面注視著牠，我慢慢地退出洞穴並且越過溪床。然後美洲獅消失了，一瞬間牠就不見了。我小心翼翼地走回我的卡車，但是沒有再看見牠。
我很幸運。我違背了和美洲獅生活的最重要的規則之一：不要獨自漫步到一個獅子的國度內。獨處的獵物是很容易被獵殺的。
儘管事實上這些大貓-也被叫做美洲獅-是殺手，公眾對他們的支援還是很高的。曾有一陣子他們被當作"有害動物"而撲殺至滅絕邊緣，但在近些年來西部數州人民利用創制權立法的行動下，已使他們獲得保護。限制最嚴的，為在1990年通過的加州第117號提案，禁止獵殺任何美洲獅，除非牠直接威脅到人、寵物、或家畜。在俄勒岡和華盛頓州的法案中規定禁止帶狗狩獵美洲獅。
愛達荷州莫斯科 Hornocker 野生動物研究所的美洲獅研究人員肯•洛根說到，「在美西，美洲獅可能是最受歡迎的"壞"動物。」
最受喜愛的壞男孩
美洲獅可能在創制立法中獲勝，但是顯然沒有勝利是永久的。例如在1999年4月，美國漁業和野生動物部基於瀕臨絕種物種法案，同意了對內華達山脈大角羊的緊急保護令，如此一來便允許生物學家殺死威脅大角羊的美洲獅，不用受加州第117號提案的約束。
生物學家們承認，人們畜養綿羊對野生大角羊的生存造成的危險，比美洲獅對野生大角羊的捕殺更大。「但是要遷移人們所畜養的綿羊是一個很慢的過程」，要求加列該項條文的獵人團體如此說。對他們而言，殺死美洲獅是較容易的。
今年3月，華盛頓州的立法機關通過了一個法案，否決了禁止帶狗狩獵美洲獅的創制立法。獵獅者和華盛頓州漁業和野生動物部的生物學家們說，為了保護人們的安全，殺死獅子是必要的。
美國西部人口增加的速度遠比美洲獅快。例如在科羅拉多州，生物學家估計有2,000∼4,000頭美洲獅在此處與超過4百萬人一起生活。
在空間上的衝突，誰贏？
內爾達.威廉斯說因"牠當著她的面"殺死了她的狗，所以她射殺了那頭美洲獅。恕我不贊同：那頭獅子實際上只是吃了她留在屋外給牠的食物。
威廉斯生活在獅子的國度內，我也是。我想，那意味著我必須弄明白怎麼與美洲獅共存，而不是因為我住在這裏就要牠們離開。
蘇珊 J.特韋特是一位在High Country News所提供Writers on the Range的投稿作家。她住在Salida，科羅拉多。
全文及圖片詳見http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/imho/imho
051000.stm
版權歸屬 環境信託基金會 (蔡宜宸譯，李欣哲審校)
中英對照全文詳見：http://news.ngo.org.tw/issue/animal/
issue-animal00080901.htm
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by Susan J. Tweit, Writers on the Range 05.10.00
On my desk sits a newspaper photo of Nelda Williams, 76, of Arbon Valley, Idaho, cradling a .22 rifle in her arms. Williams's face is grim. She has just shot a mountain lion, after it killed her Blue Heeler and then chased her cats along her front
porch.
It's legal to kill a mountain lion in most Western states if it threatens your safety or the safety of your property (including livestock and pets). Williams thus had the legal right to kill that lion. But did she have the moral right?
My, what a big kitty.
Photo: Predator Defense Institute.
One of the realities of mountain lions is that they are predators. Biologists estimate that an adult mountain lion needs the equivalent of a deer a week to survive. If deer aren't handy, they'll kill whatever is, from elk and porcupines to livestock and Blue
Heelers.
I remember the first time I saw a mountain lion. I was mapping plant communities in northwest Wyoming and had clambered down into a dry creek bed to investigate a shelter cave. The floor of the cave was littered with deer bones and lion
tracks.
Suddenly, I heard a low growl from overhead. The hair on my neck rose, and I looked up at the cliff edge, 15 feet above. A large, tawny cat face looked down at
me.
For the longest moment, I stood there, staring at the mountain lion as it stared back at me. When the synapses in my brain resumed firing, I slowly backed out of the shelter cave and across the stream bed, eyes on the lion. Then the mountain lion vanished. One moment it was there, the next, it was gone. I hiked back to my truck with all senses on alert but didn't see the lion
again.
I was lucky. I had violated one of the cardinal rules of living with mountain lions: Never wander lion country alone. Solitary prey is easier to
kill.
Despite the fact that these big cats, also called cougars and pumas, are killers, popular support for them is high. Once hunted to near-extinction as "varmints," ballot-box initiatives in several Western states in recent years have protected mountain lions. The most restrictive, California State Proposition 117, passed in 1990, prohibits the killing of any mountain lion except in the case of an animal that poses a direct threat to people, pets, or livestock. Measures in Oregon and Washington ban hunting with
dogs.
As mountain lion researcher Ken Logan of the Hornocker Wildlife Institute in Moscow, Idaho, puts it, "Cougars are probably the most popular 'bad' animals in the West."
The favorite bad boy.
Photo: Predator Defense Institute.
Mountain lions may have won at the ballot box, but apparently no victory is permanent. In April of 1999, for instance, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service granted emergency protection to Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep under the Endangered Species Act, thus allowing biologists to kill mountain lions that threaten the sheep, despite California State Proposition
117.
Biologists admit that grazing by domestic sheep may pose a greater danger to native bighorns than lion predation. But removing the domestic sheep is a very slow process, says the hunters' group that requested the listing. It's easier to kill the mountain
lions.
This March, the state of Washington's legislature passed a bill overruling the voter initiative that had banned hunting of mountain lions by dogs. Lion hunters and Washington Department of Fisheries and Wildlife biologists say killing lions is necessary to protect human
safety.
The human population of the West is increasing much more quickly than that of mountain lions. Here in Colorado, for example, biologists estimate that between 2,000 and 4,000 mountain lions live in the state, along with more than 4 million
humans.
In the conflict for space, who wins?
Nelda Williams says that she shot the mountain lion because it "got in her face" by killing her dog. I beg to differ: The lion simply ate the food she left out for
it.
Williams lives in lion country. So do I. In my mind, that means it's my job to figure out how to live with mountain lions, not their job to move out because I'm here.
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Susan J. Tweit is a contributor to Writers on the Range, a service of High Country News. She lives in Salida, Colo.
http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/imho
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