Uncovering the Family

Watching “The Secret Life of Mountain Lions” was an unexpected pleasure. It gave me a window into the maternal life of a family and allowed me to see them as more than something and a predator of farm animals or something to be feared. Growing up in a farming community of Colorado tainted or colored my view of animals like the mountain lion, wolf, coyote or bears. These were animals that farmers and ranchers competed with and in turn, had a view that was far from the family depicted in the video.

Clearly mountain lions are simply attempting to live their lives and raise their young as best they can. The odds are already stacked against them given the challenges of finding food, enduring harsh weather and simply surviving that first year. Unfortunately, the interface and interaction with humans has further impacted this species in a negative way. Human greed in the form of trophy hunting, greed in the form of killings to protect cattle or eliminate fear from territory encroachment further increase the challenges mountain lions face. Our ever expanding footprint into their territory has not only impacted their hunting ranges, but increased the potential for human/cougar encounters.

This video shows how maternal these animals are and how they are simply trying to raise a family and maintain their bloodline and species as a whole. Watching the footage of the challenges they face highlights how difficult this is even if we don’t consider human interaction and interference. Adding our meddling into this mix makes an already impossible process one that undoubtedly will eventually crumble leaving us without the beautiful mountain lion and without the critical role they play in our ecosystem.