Lions, oh my!
I received a handout at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in southwest Austin yesterday:
Dear Visitor,
We have reports of a possible mountain lion sighting at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Mountains lions are native to the US and are natural to Central Texas (but sighting is fairly rare). . . . Although the university [the Wildflower Center now belongs to The University of Texas] is honored to have such a great animal visit the Wildflower Center, we must do what is best for our visitors and for the mountain lion. For these reasons, our trails will remain closed until we are certain the area is safe for our visitors. We consider this to be the most prudent solution and hope you understand.
The Wildflower Center is bounded by several neighborhoods with thousands of houses (Circle C, Shady Hollow, etc.). We’re talking in-town, folks, not out on a mountain range somewhere.
I was trying to get ready for this news because I knew that mountains lions were enjoying a resurgence and moving into suburban areas around the country—read my post about David Baron’s thoughtful book The Beast in the Garden—but the Wildflower Center’s announcement still took me by surprise.
Yes, I know that it’s rare to see a mountain lion, even if you’re in mountain lion country. Yes, I know lions are unlikely to attack a human. Yes, I know they are magnificent animals, and I’d be as thrilled as anyone to catch a glimpse of one. Yes, yes, yes. But still. Having mountain lions along your hiking or nature trails brings danger back into the woods. The hills and canyons that make up Austin’s parks and natural areas (and even the flatland prairie of the Wildflower Center) are no longer simply play spaces for people. The beast truly is back in the garden.
Holy Cow!! Pam, you’re right – a possible mountain lion sighting seems quite amazing considering how populated and ‘groomed’ this area is.
We’ve been to the Wildflower Center on quite a few occasions, but the main areas and gardens have always been so entrancing that we spent all our time there, and never went on the trails. This news wouldn’t stop me from visiting, but I might want to remember the advice from a sign natural area in Washington State where mountain lions live: If you run into a Mountain Lion, Look Tall! Stand up, hold arms out and high! The idea is to look way too large to be easily caught and eaten.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
A few years back there were reports of sightings of a mountain lion along the little creek that runs by one side of the junior college in Farmers Branch. The jogging path there had warning signs but to my knowledge was never closed. The signs primarily warned of the danger to small dogs and children. I worked nearby and jogged there at noon most days but never saw one (to my disappointment). (I did try to run faster while passing by the creek).
My wife did see one, after it was captured, outside an office building in Las Colinas, about that same time.
Are there deer at the Wild Flower center? If not then pets in the surrounding neighborhoods need to start disappearing before I would think a Mountain Lion would stick around for very long. Without a large prey food source it will move on.
I also have to say I am a bit dismayed to realize the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center is so far south. I always thought she had more northern prairie flowers. Aren’t Texas Bluebonnets a lupine? I could never get lupines to grow. It was to hot.
Deep South gardening and perennial flowers, wild or cultivated have never had a stong connection in my mind. I guess the Wild Flower Center meant to change that.
Christopher, I’m certain there are deer at the Wildflower Center, though I’ve never seen one. Deer are thick in Austin, especially in neighborhoods near open meadows and wooded ravines. In the two adjacent neighborhoods that I mentioned in my post, deer are often seen in the daytime, munching on shrubs and lounging on lawns. There are also feral hogs at the Wildflower Center, according to a gardener I spoke with. So I think there’s plenty to keep a mountain lion fed in that area.
The book I cited, The Beast in the Garden, which looks at the repopulation of mountain lions in Boulder, CO, through the ’80s and ’90s, argues that mountain lions, like deer, will become habituated to humans if unmolested (not hunted) by them. They will even change their behavior, as deer have, in such an environment—going from nocturnal to diurnal, losing their natural fear of humans—which can lead to more attacks on humans than biologists have long asserted.
I agree that there’s no need to panic. In fact, I think the Wildflower Center needs to reopen its trails, with appropriate caution signs. But the return of mountain lions to suburban areas does give one pause, and if I lived nearby with young children, I’d have cause to worry.
Regarding your question about bluebonnets, Texas’ state flower, yes, they are lupines, and they are native to Texas, along with many other gorgeous wildflowers like Indian paintbrush, Mexican hat, blanketflower, and pink evening primrose. The Wildflower Center does promote these, but it’s about much more than wildflowers. It advocates the planting of native plants—trees, shrubs, and grasses, as well as wildflowers—in every region of the country. I think this wonderful ecological center should be better named to reflect its broad interests—maybe The Lady Bird Johnson Native Botanical Garden. Even their terrific magazine is called Wildflower, but it’s about so much more than flowers. —Pam
You scooped the Statesman which ran an article just today.
Ha, ha! And I scooped the local TV news stations. KVUE ran a story on it on Thursday morning. —Pam
Go Pam! When the story came onto the TV news yesterday, I realized what an odd pleasure there is in advance news-knowledge gained through bloggers. Incandragon broke the Extreme Makeover story before the press did, and like you, added those personal touches that make the blog reports way more fun than the professional news.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Last year, we saw a lion at our ranch in Austin County, Texas – about an hour from Houston. We had heard reports of several sightings on our property but it took 9 years for us to see one of the magnificent cats ourselves. It was in hot pursuit of a deer in the middle of the day. It probably didn’t know we were watching as it’s hunting instincts had kicked in.
Wow, that must have been an amazing sight! You were lucky to see one, but did it make you a little nervous afterward, knowing they are out there? Still, a ranch seems a more likely spot for mountain lions than Houston itself. If ever a lion is spotted there, we’ll know their habituation to humans is complete. —Pam
Well after seeing one I thought I was crazy or imagining things but now I know IT WAS ONE. I was almost getting home getting down the Sam Houston Toll Road exiting Woodforest when I had to slam on the brake as a mountain lion crossed the feeder road. As soon as I saw em I told my sister that was in the backseat “That’s not a dog” I saw that it was the size of a large dog but the thing that led me to believe it wasn’t a dog was its tail it was long and curled up at the end. I believe this happened because in the last two months they have been chopping down and burning trees on many wooded areas around here. But it still seems really weird to me to have the roaming around now our neighborhood.
Thanks for sharing your experience, Roxanna. Are you talking about the Houston area too? —Pam
The surrounding area around Lake Georgetown and the San Gabriel River in Williamson County is a well known mountain lion habitat. We had a sighting in our yard about a year ago which is an acreage homesite about 5 miles from the lake. It was reported to TPWD and neigboring ranch owners were notified as there is lots of livestock and horses. They mentioned that the Lions were venturing further from the lake and river due to the drought conditions. Luckily there are lots of deer around and there were never any reports of attacked livestock. Also heard the typical range and territory of a Mountain lion is 50 square miles that is a lot of ground they cover.