First, we see this article in the local paper.

This guy had one of his precious llamas killed, evidently by a mountain lion. Fish and game issued him a license to hunt down and kill the normally-protected cougar. Outrageous. Even low-life humans typically get three strikes before such harsh sentencing. And of course this is a rich (hey, trust me, 52 acres in Marin County is capital-R Rich, regardless of his quaint outfit of overalls and flannel) elitist leisure-rancher. You can't believe how pissed I was to see this. I just hate that the immediate response is that the wild animal is the problem and must be "put down," and this old cracker bastard gets a 10-day hunting permit without discussion or argument. I don't know why people seem to think that humans and their possessions are worth intrinsically more than the life of a wild animal. It's reminiscent of the overhunting of wolves and coyotes that has taken place elsewhere. Personally, I think one mountain lion is worth more than 5000 Hopfenspergers, and 500 llamas named after types of wine. The mountain lions were here before either, and are more beautiful, rare, and valuable than either. My first thought on reading this article was to find the guy's residence and start performing various acts of terrorism.

Then we hiked up Mt. Whittenberg in Point Reyes. It's a pretty good climb (about 1300 ft over 3 miles), so helped to burn off some of the anger.

At the top I saw a bobcat - first since the one I reported here about a year and a half ago! I tried to whisper to Terrie, coming up behind, but startled it so she only its quickly-retreating rear. We sat and ate our veggie sandwiches, enjoying the sweeping view of the Point and the ocean on a warm, totally clear day. Then, on the way back down the trail, I spotted the bobcat *again*, this time intent on a gopher or something it had seen. We stood still and quiet, watching it for over a minute - it even turned and looked at us, clearly making a decision whether to stay or go and choosing to stay - as a couple of hikers came up and we were able to get them to shut up before their chatter scared it away. This bobcat was large and tawny - almost mistakable for a mountain lion itself, but for the bobbed tail. Beautiful! After we'd all gotten a good look, I finally decided to risk getting the camera from my backpack, but that scared it off. What a wonderful creature, though... it's such a HUGE privilege to see one.

Sigh. Anyway, a few pictures, including the obligatory panorama (click for bigger views).