Here is another photo taken at our fundraiser on Saturday, September 18th, 2010.

Julia Di Sieno and John Corbett

John Corbett and I were both bidding on this gorgeous African lion pendant, donated by POSH.  John later asked me to STOP bidding on it.  Of course I let him bid higher on the item, as I could no longer afford the price range it was headed for.  John bid highest on the pendant then he announced that he got it for me as a gift.  WOW!  He is a wonderful friend!  Here is a photo taken when he gave me the pendant.

I thought this might be a cute piece for the CTAL website… after all it’s a lion, and I am a leo!  Rahrrrrrrrr.

Julia J. Di Sieno
Executive Director
Animal Rescue Team, inc.
www.animalrescueteam.net

Take nothing but photographs. Leave nothing but footprints. Kill nothing but time.

For immediate release
September 23rd 2010
Contact: Julia J. DiSieno
Executive Director
Animal Rescue Team, Inc
(805) 234-3810

Emcee & Auctioneer John Palminteri and Animal Rescue Team Executive Director Julia DiSieno announcing the auction winners.

Local Wildlife Fundraiser a Smash Hit

Animal Rescue Team, Inc. held their fourth annual Wildlife Fundraiser last Saturday (September 18th 2010).

[See the original flier for the Fundraiser]

The event location and part of the food was donated by Manny’s Mexican Restaurant on Mission Drive in Solvang.

Guest enjoyed a live auction hosted by John Palminteri and a spectacular slide show of hundreds of animals rescued and successfully rehabilitated this year. The slide show was created by Animal Rescue Team Advisory Boardmember Arthur White.

Guests enjoying the silent auction with the help of Animal Rescue Team mascot, Romulus, an abused wolf-hybrid rescued and successfully rehabilitated by Ms DiSieno

Notable guests supporting the event were Pedro Nava, 35th District State Assemblyman, his wife Susan Jordon, singer Jim Messina, actor and singer, John Corbett, actress Bo Derek, 24th congressional hopeful Tim Allison, and Animal Rescue Team Co-Founder Michael Behrman, M.D.

Emily Jensen keeping guests entertained with her guitar.

Sponsors for the event included Jordano’s Inc., Arthur Earl Winery, Teri Romero and Emily Jensen.

All monies raise at this event will go to support the important work done by the Animal Rescue Team in the Santa Ynez Valley, California.

For more information about Animal Rescue Team Inc., wildlife care,
or to volunteer, go to:

www.animalrescueteam.net

Injured wildlife in the Santa Ynez Valley should be reported to the Animal Rescue Team’s Hotline at (805) 896-1859.

The following edition was emailed to Mountain Lion Foundation newsletter subscribers on Thursday, September 23rd.  To receive the MLF Review in your inbox, click on the green box to sign up:

Because the following newsletter is posted as an image, the web links will not work.  To read more about any of the articles under the MLF Cougar Clippings heading, visit our Newsroom.  Any additional relevant links are posted below the newsletter.

Home Newsroom Library States Forum Donate About

MLF Cougar Clippings (click here for both the CDFG & Nebraska articles)

Cougar Comment Blog

Become a Member

The following edition was emailed to Mountain Lion Foundation newsletter subscribers on Wednesday, September 15th.  To receive the MLF Review in your inbox, click on the green box to sign up:

Because this newsletter is posted as an image, the web links will not work.  To read more about any of the articles under the MLF Cougar Clippings heading, visit our Newsroom.  Any additional relevant links are posted below the newsletter.

Home Newsroom Library States Forum Donate About

MLF Cougar Clippings

Nebraska Map Enlarged

Berkeley Meeting Poster ,   recap

Become a Member

WOW, Pedro Nava and his dear wife Susan Jordon’s promotion for our event… I am speechless!     — Julia

The Ellen De Generes Show video referred
to above can be viewed here:

For more information about the event, see the post
ART Inc Invites You to Our 4th Annual Fundraiser!

Julia J. Di Sieno
Executive Director
Animal Rescue Team, inc.
805 896-1859
www.animalrescueteam.net

For more information, visit AnimalRescueTeam.net

The Felidae Conservation Fund aims to advance the conservation of wild cats and their habitats planetwide through a combination of groundbreaking research, compelling education and cutting-edge technology.

Felidae collaborates on strategic research studies that clearly define a process to understand human impact on wild cats and wild places. There are important steps we can take now to minimize the devastation. The goal is to prevent further extinction of felidae species, and to preserve complete ecosystems around the world. Our contributions build new outlooks toward wild cats and the preservation of global ‘wildness’.

Felidae Conservation Fund is committed to spawning compelling educational messages through stories, visual media and outreach campaigns that pilot a healthy coexistence of humans and felidae species around the world.

Upcoming Events on September 15th and October 6th:

Folsom Zoo Recap

This past Saturday, MLF hosted its monthly educational booth outside the cougar enclosure at the Folsom Zoo (Sacramento-area, California).  Volunteers handed out free mountain lion postcards to visitors, as well as information on living with lions and fun activity sheets for kids to take home.  These Saturday events are a great way to connect with the community and teach residents in the foothills all about their wild neighbors.  Seeing mountain lions up close in the zoo setting also calms any fear people may have and often brings a new understanding and appreciation for the American lion.

On the Prowl

The two male cougars, Rio and Ventura, were both very active in the morning chasing each other around and chirping a high-pitched “yip” as they played.  When one of the zookeepers arrived with breakfast, they eagerly trotted to the indoor enclosure to enjoy their morning chow (shown in the video clip).  If you listen carefully and ignore the rooster in the background, at the 10 second marker when they are passing each other you can hear a short “yip” chirp from one of the boys.

Flash, the young female (whose controversial rescue story you may remember from last year) spent the day snoozing in her small cave near the front fence.  Perhaps she was annoyed by the rowdy boys, but some visitors wandered if she was mourning the loss of Alder — the zoo’s older female cougar who passed away a few weeks ago and may have served as somewhat of a surrogate mother-figure for Flash.

Remembering Alder

Visitors honored Alder’s memory by sharing their stories of her and coloring paper hearts that will be used to create a memorial display.

Alder will be missed, but everyone took comfort in knowing she was given a good life at the zoo.  Despite health issues and suffering from seizures, Alder was at least twelve years old (an ol’ granny in cougar years!) and maintained her feisty playful attitude until the end.  And looking towards the future, Alder’s passing may now open up a forever home for another orphaned kitten in need.

Join Us

MLF will return to the Folsom Zoo this month for another Saturday outreach event.  New volunteers are welcome to join (you’ll get into the park free) and it’s a great way to learn more about mountain lions.  To get involved, sign up for MLF’s volunteer announcements or send an email to outreach@mountainlion.org.

We hope to see you there!

A special thank you to Estelle, Pat, and Lyn (pictured here from left to right) for helping run the booth.  Great work, ladies!

To learn more about the Mountain Lion Foundation, visit www.MountainLion.org

Sadly another one of our state protected mountain lions has been shot, and killed. A resident of Jeffrey Street in the city of SLO saw a mountain lion in one of their backyard trees. They called 911 and the SLO Police Department responded and confirmed there was a mountain lion in their tree about 15 feet from the ground. SLO PD officers established a perimeter in the yard while SLO County Animal Services and California Department of Fish & Game officials responded to the scene.

All agencies assessed the situation and determined that the mountain lion posed a serious threat to the public and neighborhood residents because of its location in a heavily populated residential area, especially if the mountain lion were to flee from the yard into the neighboring yards and residential areas. Officials developed a plan to tranquilize the mountain lion in an attempt to remove it from the area.

At about 6:25PM personnel from the SLO county Animal Services shot the mountain lion with a tranquilizer dart while the animal was still in the tree. Approximately 4 minutes later the lion fell from the tree and landed on the ground. The lion then got up and tried to leave the yard by jumping the rear fence. As the mountain lion began to jump over the rear fence, police officers shot the mountain lion, however it was still able to jump the fence into the rear yard of a neighboring home. Once in the neighboring yard, a police officer shot and killed the lion.

The mountain lion appeared to be an adult. Hopefully not a lactating mother, leaving orphaned cubs behind?

Our Reaction

We appreciate that the responding officers recognized a mountain lion hiding in a tree is not a reason to immediately kill it, and that they tried to do the right thing by resolving the situation non-lethally.  As natural habitats continue to disappear at a high rate, interactions with wildlife will inevitably become more common.  Urban law enforcement could benefit from proper training to better handle mountain lion as well as bear encounters.  All involved had the right intention, they just needed the appropriate training and tools.  We at Animal Rescue Team, Inc. will have a field volunteer from The Mountain Lion Foundation, who offers briefings to law enforcement agencies, and covers “shoot/don’t shoot” scenarios host a training at our facility .

Tips

Even if an official is unable to tranquilize and relocate a lion, we highly recommend giving the animal time and space to move on.  Mountain lions are solitary animals and each one roams its own territory often a hundred square miles or more in size.  They rarely stay in one place for long.  Aversive conditioning can be very effective in scaring a lion away from populated areas.  Just last month, police officers in Gilroy used pepper balls (similar to a paintball gun that shoots pepper spray-like balls) to scare away a wandering mountain lion (read more).  Rubber bullets are one of the more common – and successful – methods used by officers.  Other states like Washington have even started using specially trained Karelian bear dogs to “teach” relocated mountain lions and bears to stay away from towns.  (learn more about this great program or See an example)  Alternatives to killing must be considered.

Working with our Law Enforcement & Wildlife Officials

The Mountain Lion Foundation, in conjunction with Animal Rescue Team, Inc. will be hosting  a one hour briefing at the ART Inc.’s wildlife rehab facility for local law enforcement ONLY as well as media on Friday July 23, 2010 at 15:00.

Our guest speaker will be Robin Parks:

Robin Parks retired from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) in 2004 after a 25 year career in federal law enforcement.  Robin’s career required he work and live in various locations in the US, Europe, Mexico, and on US Navy ships at sea.  A life long admirer of the great cats, he began doing volunteer work at animal sanctuaries in California and other states in 2000 where he first encountered captive mountain lions. This later led him to MLF where he has been a field volunteer in several projects.  He now is very much involved in reaching out to law enforcement agencies who are the first responders to cougar-human encounters.  Robin received a large amount of media coverage for his educational briefing to the Santa Paula Police Department after officers shot and killed a lion kitten in town.  Robin’s presentations provide basic cougar biology and safety tips, but primarily discuss “shoot/don’t shoot” considerations and scenarios which demonstrate that killing a cougar simply because it has wandered into human territory is rarely necessary and is often the wrong decision.  Robin lives in San Diego.

It is clear that the public likes mountain lions and does not want them killed.  There are many effective non-lethal tools out there for handling mountain lion calls.  The Mountain Lion Foundation is happy to help any way they can.  For more information, visit MountainLion.org.

For reservations and directions please call 805 896-1859,

Thank you,

Julia Di Sieno, Executive Director
Animal Rescue Team, Inc.
www.animalrescueteam.net
805 896-1859

Amy Rodrigues, Outreach Coordinator
amy@mountainlion.org
Mountain Lion Foundation
www.mountainlion.org
800 319-7621

On June 30th, California State Senator Fran Pavley (D-Santa Monica) presented Mountain Lion Foundation Board Chairman, Toby Cooper with a Senate resolution commemorating the Foundation’s “significant contributions” to the passage and implementation of the California Wildlife Protection Act of 1990 (Proposition 117). The resolution recognizes the accomplishments achieved through Proposition 117, a landmark initiative passed by California voters twenty years ago. The initiative was the first to qualify for the statewide ballot strictly through the efforts of unpaid volunteers – many of which were, and remain, proud members of MLF.  It also classified mountain lions as a “specially protected mammal” in California thus safe from being killed for fun, and created the Habitat Conservation Fund which acquires and protects habitat for all of California’s wildlife.

MLF staff enjoyed visiting Senator Pavely’s office in the capitol, posing for pictures, and casually chatting about the new mountain lion kittens in the Santa Monica Mountains.  Senator Pavley also mentioned that in her district, “the Habitat Conservation Fund has helped acquire land and protect habitat and native species in areas including Topanga Canyon, Franklin Canyon Park, and Malibu Creek State Park just to name a few.”

More than 2.2 million acres of wildlife habitat have been protected in California because of Proposition 117.  The resolution is, in part, the State’s way of saying thank you to MLF’s dedicated volunteers who helped gather signatures and promote the passage of the initiative all those years ago.  Because of their efforts to protect wildlife, the Resolution notes “California now has the unique status as the state with the largest human population coexisting with the largest number of mountain lions.”

To learn more about the Mountain Lion Foundation and the Resolution, visit MountainLion.org