This is the article from the New York Times | National Desk | August 28, 2005, Sunday
By Gary Rivlin (NYT) 1404 words
Late Edition - Final, Section 1, Page 12, Column 1
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/28/national/28lions.html
In California Enclave,
Cougars Keep the People at Bay
Jim Wilson/The New York Times
Matt Thomas searches for mountain lion tracks on a neighbor's
estate in Atherton, Calif., and sends a weekly e-mail report to his fellow
residents.
ATHERTON, Calif. - You would think that if you plunked down
$10 million for a home, including millions to buy three adjoining properties,
you could count on a little freedom to roam. But then the occasional mountain
lion traipses across your land and, if you are Barbara Proulx, you feel trapped,
afraid to let your two young sons out by themselves because of the dangers
lurking outside.
Mrs. Proulx and her husband, Tom, a founder of the software company Intuit,
even have a three-hole golf course on their 10-plus acres, yet in recent months
it has gotten far less use than in the past.
"I won't let my children go to the tennis court by themselves anymore," Mrs.
Proulx said. She does not permit the boys, ages 9 and 11, to walk to the pool on
their own, either. Her parents live in a home on her property, but "they're
terrified."
"Except to come to my house," she said, "they never go outside."
They are hardly the only ones in the area feeling like prisoners in
multimillion-dollar homes. In recent months, there have been a few publicized
mountain lion sightings up and down this peninsula just south of San Francisco,
especially in the area's rural, more upscale neighborhoods, out of the reach of
most people beyond venture capitalists and those made outlandishly wealthy by
Silicon Valley's star companies.
Yet nowhere has this fear been more pronounced than in Atherton, the
country's second-wealthiest community after Rancho Santa Fe, in Southern California.
Here, largely because of the efforts of a single neighbor, vast backyards sit
largely unused.
More than a matter of man versus nature, the battle over the Silicon Valley's
mountain lions is pitting human against human.
Wildlife experts say that residents are overreacting to the presence of a
stealthy animal that has been part of the landscape for as long as there has
been a California. They say that mountain lions - also known as cougars -
present an infinitesimal threat, especially if people avoid behavior like
jogging alone at dawn or dusk close to the reservoir on Atherton's western
border.
But residents here pay a lot so they can raise their children far from grime,
grit and two-legged predators, and they seem to resent the animals' presence.
"It's a beautiful animal, but mountain lions don't belong in our
neighborhood," said Raymond Lane, a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield &
Byers, Silicon Valley's most storied venture capital firm, who lives two doors
from the Proulx family. "The answer is to take them out."
Mr. Lane said he would do the deed himself if it were not against the law.
Except in emergencies, the California Department of Fish and Game must approve
the killing of mountain lions, which were given special protection by voters in
1990.
Town officials confirm only six mountain lion sightings over the last 15
months. "We've seen no evidence of a proliferation of mountain lions," said
Chief Robert J. Brennan of the Atherton Police Department.
Instead, he traces the recent fear to a man named Matt Thomas, a 54-year-old
retiree who has been known to ask permission from his neighbors to comb their
yards in search of cougar droppings.
Last summer, after his gardener said he saw a mountain lion strolling down
the street, Mr. Thomas placed a letter in scores of mailboxes describing what he
said was a spike in sightings. He warned them to keep closer watch over their
children.
Since then, Mr. Thomas has devoted countless hours each week to his cause. He
constantly reads about mountain lions, plays amateur tracker and generally
serves as a thorn in the side of local officials. Despite assertions by the
police and wildlife experts, Mr. Thomas says residents in his part of Atherton
have reported 40 sightings in the last year.
"I try to make everyone in authority aware of the problem here, but I guess
no one is going to take us seriously until a child is attacked," said Mr.
Thomas, the father of three teenage boys. Unlike many here who made their
fortunes working in the computer industry, Mr. Thomas founded a string of
storefront self-defense training centers.
Mr. Thomas's tools include a 10-million-candlepower spotlight that can
illuminate his backyard like a Wal-Mart parking lot; a military-issue device
that amplifies sound by a factor of 10; and a half-dozen Gen 3 Night Vision
Scopes, which would outline a cougar in green if he ever spotted one.
But his most effective weapon is the computer he uses to send e-mail alerts
to those living in what he dubs his "sector." The electronic missives, long and
chatty, report in great detail on every sighting reported to him by neighbors
and include references to, say, the speed with which this "apex predator" could
kill a child.
"These e-mails have gotten
everyone stirred up into such a frenzy that people think mountain lions are
knocking on people's doors, ready to come in," said Terry Palmisano, a senior
wildlife specialist with the Fish and Game Department. Ms. Palmisano said that
one supposed sighting turned out to be a 10-pound tabby cat, another a raccoon.
Mountain lions live on the edge of urban areas up and down California, but in
100 years maybe 15 people have been attacked, Ms. Palmisano said. The last death
was in 2003, when a cougar killed a bicyclist in Southern California. In May
2004, the police in Palo Alto, just south of Atherton, killed a mountain lion
that had been spotted in a tree not far from a school. Animal rights advocates
protested, but Ms. Palmisano said the cougar was a danger to the children.
Last November, the Atherton police held a community meeting, hoping that
local wildlife experts could quell people's fears. But the meeting seemed to
have the opposite effect, said Scott Dettmer, a lawyer who lives in Atherton.
"It was like a scene from 'Jaws,' " Mr. Dettmer said. "The speakers included
this one mountain lion expert who described how a mountain lion can crush a
human skull and jump a 15-foot fence. That managed to get everyone worked up
even more."
Most people living in Mr. Dettmer's corner of Atherton seem to have a
mountain lion story. Stephanie Lane said she had not allowed her children to
play outside unsupervised since she spotted a mountain lion outside her window.
Mrs. Proulx said that last month, a cub came within 10 feet of her, scampering
away only when called by what she presumed to be its mother.
People are pulling whatever levers they can to pressure local leaders to take
action. Mrs. Proulx has pressed the city to fire Chief Brennan for not doing
more about the cougars.
Chief Brennan said, "I understand the frustration level, but if the thing is
going about its business and doing nothing more than running across a property,
that's not a behavior that allows us to shoot it."
Not everyone in the hills above Silicon Valley is living in fear. Paul Saffo,
a technology consultant who lives just north of Atherton, says the real threat
is posed by people like Mr. Thomas, whom he has never met.
"This gentleman," he said of Mr. Thomas, "is finding excuses to pander to his
own irrational fears. If he were concerned about the welfare of children, he'd
be organizing around bicycle helmets, crossing guards, seat belts, child
molesters, television advertising or any of a long list of factors that
represent a greater threat than mountain lions."
See Matt Thomas's critique of the above article by clicking here:
