LETTER: Cat’s fate was sealed from the beginning

I read with sadness, but not surprise, of the death of our island cougar (“Cougar killed after year on island,” Aug. 23). His presence on our small island did not bode well for him because it did not bode well for us in many respects. A young male lion requires a lot of things to live a normal life (read: behave normally) — a large enough territory, ample food supply, opportunity to mate. Though food was in abundance, the other two quite fundamental needs were unmet. The situation was certainly doomed to failure; the development of aberrant behavior, predictable. We all quietly hoped he would just move on.

And when he didn’t, his life was forfeit. It was hard to read the cold rationalization of his execution — that we were actually doing him a favor; that releasing him back into the wild somewhere would have “probably” been unsuccessful … death at the hands of another lion being such a painful way to go. It all sounded chillingly economic to me. For sure, relocation statistically played against him. I understand that. But in relocation he would have had the chance to survive, however slim those odds. Trapped and shot eliminates any chance at all.

The article rightly pointed out that another big cat could certainly try this island again. What is it about the “wild” — in ourselves, or in nature — that challenges us so? How do we address this aspect of life in a way that leaves our integrity intact? Perhaps cougars come along to remind us of that very work on our collective plate.

— Cynthia Zheutlin