Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Gwen Giffen" <ggiffen@1st.net>]

> Here we have:  black bears, deer, coyotes, bob cats,
> possibly lynx, just possibly mountain lions - as well as the
> usual crew of smaller animals.

I would be willing to bet that you do have some mountain lions, and probably 
lynx also - but not native of course. I live in eastern Ohio, and many 
people have sited cougars in the area on rare occaisions, including my 
husband. A couple of years after my husband saw one in his field, someone I 
grew up knowing shot and killed one when it attacked him. It made the news. 
The cougar had been declawed though.

When I had some problems with some wildlife, and called the local game 
warden, I was told that there were indeed a number of "exotic animals" 
running loose, and there was some suspicion that some of them had bred in 
the wild - perhaps even interbred, even though they were at one time 
domestic pets. Some were domestic pets illegally, and were set loose to 
avoid charges. All it takes is one male and female cougar to find each 
other, and we have fully clawed wild cougars again. They were actually happy 
to hear from whom all I had heard of the sitings, and where.

I have not to date seen a cougar or a lynx; nor have I seen any wild cat 
tracks other than bob cats, but that doesn't mean they aren't around. The 
wildlife officers want called with sitings or suspected tracking of such 
animals so they can keep tabs on their whereabouts.

In this area, we've had a snow monkey escape from the Pittsburgh Zoo and 
settle in. You never know what you might see out your back door! He never 
came our direction though.

I did get to see some very curious gray fox kits last spring stare at us 
from near their den, not far from our house. They did not bother our 
chickens, but we keep one of our dogs tied nearby. Fox kits are fun to 
watch. Fox can be rather noisy at night too.

Gwen