Answering some emails about alligators, mountain lions and bears
A baby alligator being raised at the Durant Fish Hatchery. They will be released on the Red Slough, where they were found, with transmitters later this month. More will be released next year.
I received a couple of interesting emails this week. One wasn’t so flattering.
Heather Hoedebeck, one of the Southeastern Oklahoma State University students who helped care for some baby alligators found abandoned at the Red Slough, wanted a piece of my hide for the article I wrote in the Aug. 2 Sunday Oklahoman.
The article, according to Hoedebeck, was “lazily written” and did not do the gators justice or adequately represent the work put into the care and maintenance of them.
“The conservation side of the article is non-existent,” she wrote. “All you have done is alert to people that there are native alligators. No one is concerned with the safety of these animals now. People are more concerned that they are out there.
“You have promoted a redneck frenzy of alligator hunts rather than persuading the people of Oklahoma to be interested in conservation and importance of our native creatures.”
Wow. Blame me when the mob of alligator hunters show up at the Red Slough with their pitchforks and torches.
Heather really has more of an issue with what I didn’t report than what I did.
“As a conservation issue, it should be mentioned that they are a keystone species that influence the community of species and the habitat of the Red Slough area,” she wrote.
I agree. It wasn’t my intent to create a “redneck frenzy of alligator hunts” but rather to tell a neat wildlife conservation story about how abandoned baby alligators were saved at the Red Slough, cared for by Southeastern biology students and then will be returned to their native habitat with transmitters so biologists can learn more about them.
It’s really not a case of lazy reporting but newspaper space limitations that kept me from reporting more on the gators.
With that mind, I asked Heather to provide me with the key points that she thinks I missed in my column.
“Oklahoma alligators have a hibernation cycle unlike those in Florida and taking them out of the wild could mess up their “biological clock.” Heather wrote.
“Since taking them out was unavoidable due to the chances of survival without a mother, the study is being conducted to see if raising them in captivity for one year or two years is optimal.
“They are wanting to get as much size on the gators as possible without messing up their biological clocks. They also want to see if they will be able to go back into hibernation cycles at all. If they cannot hibernate they will freeze to death.
“These are the most extremely adaptive alligators and are at the furthest point of their natural range. That is why they believe the gators will be able to continue their hibernation cycles even after being kept in captivity.
“The alligators are important to our entire ecosystem and are more afraid of humans than most humans are of them.
“To take these animals out of their natural setting at the top of the food chain in Oklahoma will negatively influence everything around it.
“If they are removed from this position, it will allow something else to move into its place, which, could potentially endanger all the native species in that area.”
I agree, Heather, and I think the majority of Oklahomans will, too.
Bob Hixon, a landowner in Le Flore County, emailed me with concerns about black bear and mountain lion hunting.
Hixon might be in the minority, but he opposes bear and mountain lion hunting.
“Their numbers are still very low, no one even knows anything about the mountain lion population and range,” Bob wrote.
“The bears are tourist attractions for the Ouachita mountain area and bring-in tourism dollars to this area and the state.
“Also, a few mountain lions might help with the soaring feral hog problem that is a much greater concern for other game and habitat destruction.
“The black bear and mountain lion are/were native to this area … they are part of the ecosystem and deserve a place in Oklahoma … their numbers are still very low … has anybody actually presented a carcass of a domestic animal that has been killed by a lion?
“I believe in a balance; hunting is fine but let’s all do the science first.”
I don’t think you have anything to worry about as far as mountain lions, Bob. It’s been legal to shoot a mountain lion on sight if it’s deemed a threat or nuisance (when would it not be?) for more than two years now in Oklahoma. No one has checked a lion into the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation yet.
The Oklahoma Department of Food, Forestry and Agriculture has confirmed only one case in the state of a mountain lion killing domestic animals. That happened a couple of years ago in the Panhandle when a mountain lion was killing goats and sheep, said Jack Carson, spokesman for the agency.
The state Agriculture department gets many reports of mountain lion kills, but often the report can’t be confirmed because the agency received it weeks after it happened and it was to late to investigate, Carson said. Also, investigators sometimes can’t determine from the scene the identity of the predator, he said.
Many times the reports of domestic animals being killed by mountain lions in Oklahoma are proven to be kills by bobcats instead, Carson said. Kills by wild dogs and coyotes are also commonly mistaken for mountain lion kills, he said.
As far as black bears, I was surprised there wasn’t more debate in the state Legislature about the bear hunting bill, but ODWC believes it has the science to support a bear hunt. State wildlife officials say there are at least 500 black bears in southeastern Oklahoma.
The total number of black bears that can be killed by hunters is 20, and the ODWC biologist who works closely with bears is on record that he doesn’t think 10 will be taken by hunters this season.
It’s expected they are going to be hard to hunt, especially with a bow. Only bowhunters and possibly muzzleloader hunters (if bow hunters don’t kill 20 by the time deer muzzleloader season begins) can legally hunt black bear in Oklahoma this fall.
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Comments
Thank you so much for publishing this blog. Please keep in mind that I was only so lucky to be able to be around these baby gators and learn about them through the students and teachers that did care for them from day one. The information I provided you with was not of my own knowlege so I would like to thank Jared Wood for answering questions pertaining to the issue. Thanks again Ed.
Heather
My wife and I were watching Monsterquest on the “History Channel” and saw where according to the Wildlife department there are no large black cats in Oklahoma. They couldn’t be more wrong. They should talk to the people living in the Arbuckles in the Davis area. I don’t believe in Santa Clause, the tooth fairy or bigfoot, and I didn’t believe big black cats lived in Oklahoma until I saw one for myself. For all I know it was a pet that someone let go, but I know what I saw and I wasn’t the only one to see it.
According to the state Wildlife Department and Wikepedia, there is no such thing as a black or melanistic North American cougar or mountain lion. There are black leopards and jaguars.
However, many people in Oklahoma say they have seen a black cougar, including just recently a friend of mine who claims to have seen one near Chandler.
But there are no authenticated cases of truly melanistic cougars.
None have ever been photographed or shot in the wild and none have been bred.
I have done some research on this area, and I have found that Oklahoma was once home to the jaguar and the panther in the mid-to-late 19th century. They became extinct to this area ONLY due to over-hunting for their hides and sport hunting. It has been nearly 150 years since then, so the likelyhood that a few have migrated back is not out of the question. Even according to Prof. Jenks of South Dakota(Leading reseacher in Mountian Lions) has found that mountian lions have traveled(ove 600 miles) from the Black Hills to Oklahoma, so the why not the other way around?
I have been reading all the blogs and information on the cougars/ mountain lions tonight because we have recently had problems with one taking small dogs and cats an what not. I have 7 or 8 steer calves who im taking to market next month and I am concerned. Was standing on my deck lookin down at where they normally lay at night an a large cat looked to be yellow walked through and we lost it. We have one sick calf that if it were to attack id suppose hed attack him. But how likely would it be for one of them to attack anyone in my family standing persay…. on the front porch or deck? I like to sit an just listen to the peace an quiet right now and im afraid to even look at the door. I am 8 months pregnant and i am just worrying about what to look out for, if I should be aware at all times? Or if there is anytime of the day that I shouldnt have to be looking over my shoulder? Im just a big scardy cat and I dont want to put myself an my bbay in a position that might hurt us both. He was not close to the house but close enough to see his coloring an the long tail an he jumped into a tree it looked like down by the barn? An ive been hearing some strange noises lately around my house. We raise cattle and im just very concerned that it will try to take down some of them. I wouldnt go down there to check it out tonight because of how dark it is obviously but…. Is it safe to go down during the day still? They shouldnt attack unless you give them feeling that you are going to harm them right? Or will they try to protect their catch if they have taken down my one sick calf who was in the yard where we saw the big cat?
That “redneck” comment she made is offensive and for a person who pleads for the population of OK to have respect for these creatures, she needs to first have respect for the great people of Oklahoma, she can start by breaking her meds in half.
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