I just had a telephone call from my husband telling me that he finally saw a Mountain Lion crossing the road on the way to work. I say “finally” because we have been hearing rumors of sightings for a while, even right here in our neighborhood. This is how it started with bears when we first moved here about 24 years ago…we heard people mention seeing tracks now and then, but never did we see bears, they were just talk and rumor. Now we see them every summer, we are on our 3rd bird feeder of the season because the bears LOVE bird seed and I have to get used to bringing in my feeders every night. We don’t have a lot of trouble with our garbage cans, but, well, not to get gross, but if you have baby, and use disposable diapers, you’ll get a LOT more visits to your garbage cans.
The picture in this post is taken off the side of our deck of a younger bear enjoying some of our trash, we took this one about 5 years ago, they don’t seem to bother with our garbage as much, but on occasion they still visit the cans. Maybe looking for the bird feeders on the other side of the house is more interesting. Some get the new bear-proof cans, which are helpful for many (garbage collectors don’t like the screw-off lids 
but if you get a persistent bear, he/she will just carry it off and try to figure out how to open it, and you have to find the cans.
I love wildlife, and to me, seeing a big black bear lumber across the road, healthy fur shining in the sunlight, there’s nothing quite like it…if it’s a “she” and there are a couple of cubs in tow, all the better!
As for Mountain Lions, they are predators, I’m going to have to do my homework and keep a close eye on my little Yorkshire Terrier, Aspen.
If you love God’s creation and chose to live in an area where there are lots of woodlands and lakes, you have to learn to co-habitate with whatever creatures decide to move in.
Oh, by the way, no Tigers yet
