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luv2,

I think you are right about lions' preference for venison. Here is an interesting article I ran across. I thought it was interesting that the Park Rangers seemingly had little difficulty in catching the lions with road kill venison, in an area so full of live animals:

2 Yosemite mountain lions killed

By MICHAEL MELLO
BEE STAFF WRITER

Published: October 29, 2003, 06:12:40 AM PST

Yosemite National Park biologists killed two mountain lions by injection early Tuesday after the cats behaved aggressively around people, including a group of children, rangers reported.
The lions, an adult and yearling, both females, had been spotted sev- eral times this month in the Curry Village section of Yosemite Valley, a popular recreation spot.

"They had started to habitually be in close proximity to humans and human dwellings, and showed no fear," park spokeswoman Deb Schweizer said.

At one point last week, biologists saw the lions stalking children.

"There was an incident over at Curry Village where there was a group of students in their cabin being kids -- they were making a lot of high-pitched noise," Schweizer said.

According to park biologists, the high-pitched noises are similar to those made by the lions' natural prey.

The lions "heard the kids' voices and moved in. One of them was in a slinking position, moving forward ... and crept within 30 meters (100 feet) of the group," Schweizer said. "That's what made us decide we had to act."

The cats probably came to the Curry Village area to prey on raccoons that had fattened themselves on food scraps left by tourists. Park officials became concerned after visitors reported that the cats showed little fear of humans.

"One of the things we don't know, but speculate, is ... (the yearling's) mother might have been bringing her into Curry Village, where there is pretty easy hunting, to help her hone her hunting skills."

Park employees tried to coerce the cats to leave Curry Village, firing beanbags and rubber bullets, but the cats stayed.

Monday night, biologists set a steel mesh trap, baiting it with the meat of a deer that had been struck and killed by a car. By early Tuesday, both cats had been trapped and put down with injections.

Schweizer stressed that lion incidents in the park are rare.

"There's never been an instance where a mountain lion has attacked a human in modern history" in the park, she said. But, "There was a level of urgency about the level of safety in Curry Village that we simply couldn't ignore."

Bee staff writer Michael Mello can be reached at 578-2235 or mmello@modbee.com.

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