| Submit your comments on this article |
| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| Prowlin' Insurgent Cougars Control Rich Residents of California Enclave |
| 2005-08-28 |
| You would think that if you plunked down $10 million for a home, including millions to buy three adjoining properties, you could count on a little freedom to roam. But then the occasional mountain lion traipses across your land and, if you are Barbara Proulx, you feel trapped, afraid to let your two young sons out by themselves because of the dangers lurking outside. Police Chief Robert J. Brennan's cast of a mountain lion's paw. Mrs. Proulx and her husband, Tom, a founder of the software company Intuit, even have a three-hole golf course on their 10-plus acres, yet in recent months it has gotten far less use than in the past. "I won't let my children go to the tennis court by themselves anymore," Mrs. Proulx said. She does not permit the boys, ages 9 and 11, to walk to the pool on their own, either. Her parents live in a home on her property, but "they're terrified." "Except to come to my house," she said, "they never go outside." They are hardly the only ones in the area feeling like prisoners in multimillion-dollar homes. In recent months, there have been a few publicized mountain lion sightings up and down this peninsula just south of San Francisco, especially in the area's rural, more upscale neighborhoods, out of the reach of most people beyond venture capitalists and those made outlandishly wealthy by Silicon Valley's star companies. Yet nowhere has this fear been more pronounced than in Atherton, the country's second-wealthiest community after Rancho Santa Fe, in Southern California. Here, largely because of the efforts of a single neighbor, vast backyards sit largely unused. More than a matter of man versus nature, the battle over the Silicon Valley's mountain lions is pitting human against human. |
| Posted by:Captain America |
| #10 Gee, nobody said it! ;-) Why do cougars hate us? |
| Posted by: Sobiesky 2005-08-28 23:51 |
| #9 //$10 million for a home// boo hoo fukin hoo |
| Posted by: duck4moo 2005-08-28 21:57 |
| #8 Train all family members, kids included, on responsible and proper use of firearms, and arm them accordingly. When one's property is measured in acres, anything less is asking for trouble. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2005-08-28 18:48 |
| #7 LOL, SH. |
| Posted by: lotp 2005-08-28 18:28 |
| #6 Move to Compton where it's safer. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2005-08-28 15:46 |
| #5 These people cannot be from the same stock as the pioneers who set out for the West. 9 & 10 years old is old enough to learn to use a rifle; so are the grandparents. Boy, am I tired of whiny, helpless Americans -- cowering in their houses over a mountain lion attack that is very unlikely to occur and which can be defended against. |
| Posted by: kate8 2005-08-28 14:55 |
| #4 I've been face-to-face with a Mt Lion on 2 occasions. Both times they were within 15 feet of me and we looked each other square in the eyes. I damn near pooped my pants but both times they walked on off. A child probably wouldn't be so lucky. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2005-08-28 14:55 |
| #3 What do you expect, you idiots? You keep voting in Democrats who disarm you and say that cougars are too cute to be hunted. Now they have no fear of you; in fact, they view you as prey. Why don't you just grow wool and go "baaaa?" |
| Posted by: Jackal 2005-08-28 12:35 |
| #2 A co-conspirator in all this is Stanford University. Bwahahaha. |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2005-08-28 12:01 |
| #1 page 3 |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-08-28 11:43 |