Not Scary Until the End

The typical horror flick has the moviegoer sitting on the edge of their seat for the entire film, until the end, when all the details are wrapped up. I read an article in the East Valley Tribune this morning that uses the opposite formula, calming and assuring until the very end, when the cure seems worse than the disease. It has to do with whether there's a mountain lion hanging out at the Riparian Preserve on Greenfield and Guadalupe (not so far from my house, as we live on the greenbelt in Higley Groves West):

It could be another East Valley urban myth, to join the ranks of an elusive Mesa alligator. But seven reports of a mountain lion at Gilbert’s Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch has experts on watch.

“If it’s as shy as it seems to be, it doesn’t seem to be much danger at all,” said Scott Anderson, director of the Riparian Institute at Greenfield and Guadalupe roads.

Seven visitors, including an Arizona State University professor and bird watchers, have separately called in sightings of what appeared to be a juvenile mountain lion near pond No. 6 along Greenfield Road.

They all reported it walked away from them when spotted, park ranger Scott Cleaves said.

The ranger said that in the six months since the institute began getting calls about a big orange cat, he has never seen it himself, but he takes the calls seriously based on the specifics given by witnesses.

It's good to take it seriously; that's what we would want our park officials to do, even if it seems unlikely to be true. So they've been watching.

However, the Arizona Game and Fish Department recently surveyed the park for several hours and came up empty, Cleaves said. No scratchings, paw prints or other evidence has been spotted by officials.

Cleaves added that because the park is filled with rabbits, birds and feral cats, a mountain lion could survive without harming neighborhood pets, and easily live unnoticed since it would come out at night when the park is closed.

I have great confidence in the handling of this situation. Mountain lions are quite common in Tucson, so it isn't as though they are talking about space aliens.

Personally, I am not bothered by these reports; remember, I grew up in Wyoming, where the population of critters of all sorts far outweighs the population of humans. Common sense says to stay away from a dangerous animal, don't provoke it, and yes, it is probably more afraid of me than the other way around. But the tips at the end of the article are downright frightening; you can read them at your leisure, but here's one as a sample:

• Fight back if attacked: Many potential victims have fought back successfully with rocks, sticks, caps, jackets, garden tools and their bare hands.
Since a mountain lion usually tries to bite the head or neck, try to remain standing and face the attacking animal.

After several tips that tell me not to crouch while gathering instruments of defense, they end by telling me to remain standing and face the animal while it tries to bite my head or neck? Whoa, now that's a scary thought! I'm hoping the mountain lion has taken up residence with Mesa's pond alligator - in the land of myth.