The Beast in the Garden: A Modern Parable of Man and Nature

Rating:
Summary: parable for modern times, but have we learned anything?
Review: I just finished <u>The Beast In the Garden: A Modern Parable of Man and Nature</u> by David Baron. This non-fiction book is a quick read and outlines the comeback of the mountain lion, or cougar, along the Front Range, during the late 1980s to early 1990s. The cougar had been nearly wiped out by government bounties in the early part of the twentieth century, but the explosion of deer along the Front Range, along with revocation of that bounty, led to a comeback. In parts of the Denver metro area, mountain lions came to co-exist with human beings. This was especially true in Boulder, where the nature loving Boulderites assured a plentiful meat supply when they wouldn't cull deer herds. The mountain lions grow familiar with human habits, learn that humans don't mean danger, and end up mauling a high school student.

I really enjoyed the way the events were outlined, and Baron does a good job of making sure the science and character development are well balanced. He follows a few of the key players for the entire time, while bringing in other interesting characters, like the cougar hunter, as they appear. The science seems reasonable to me, though I haven't taken a biology class since high school: large animals don't have a natural aversion to humanity. Rather, this is a learned trait passed from generation to generation. Remove the killing that caused the aversion, and the animals will become more and more comfortable around humanity, to the point of considering humans a food source.

In the larger sense, though, this book is about managing wilderness, and realizing that as soon as you put a house up in a forest, you've changed the stakes. Humans love being around nature, but bleat for help as soon as nature threatens. In some ways, we want a Disneyland version of the forest--all of the beauty with none of the danger. You see this all the time with folks who build around national forest; as soon as fires season comes, they need to be protected. This is a thorny problem, and answers aren't simple. <u>The Beast In the Garden</u> really is a parable, and I'm not sure we've learned the lessons.

Rating:
Summary: A great book!
Review: I picked up this book on a friend's recommendation and will confess I had my doubts. But it turned out to be one of those books you can't put down. What a fabulous story!

Rating:
Summary: The Beast in the Garden
Review: One of the most enlightening books I've ever read! A coworker bought the book for me after hearing David Barons interview on NPR. I am an environmental activist and always believed the animals have to come first because they were here first but David makes a great case for careful scientific management of wildlife. This a like a dectective story where the author gathered and presents all the evidence(not just the stuff that supports his case). He has an opinion but doesn't shove it down your throat. If you want to be more educated about environmental issues read this book. Even if you don't agree with the author you'll definitely learn something! Fascinating situation that I had never heard of until reading this book. The authors case was supported once again when I saw the news about the cougar attacks in California while reading the book! More attacks are inevitable as you'll see when you've read this outstanding book!!!!!

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Summary: Urban Prey Species
Review: This book does a fairly good job of documenting the mental attributes of our most prevalent urban prey species, "homo semi-sapiens wimpus". The treacly, sentimentalized vision of "nature" espoused by the urban bleating grass-eaters in Boulder is a clear demonstration of the need for accelerated Darwinian selection by the larger carnivores. I would fully support a Dept. of Fish & Game relocation program designed to move cougars, black bears, and grizzly bears into the urban parks and backyards of the homes of the bleeding-heart leftist wussies who inhabit our larger cities. After all, the urban lefitsts are herbivores, the natural prey for large carnivores. Chomp down, dudes!!

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Summary: A RIVETING TALE OF A 4-LEGGED SERIAL KILLER
Review: This book is amazing and riveting in the telling of our encroachment into the territory of wild animals, specifically the cougar, or mountain lion. It is hard to believe that this is the first book by David Baron, because it is everything a book should be: it begins with the heart of the story (the killing of a young runner, probably by a cougar) and then delves into those subjects we never feel we are interested in or can understand, such as science, the natural history of the Wild West, man's insistence on doing what we want, when we want, and living anyplace we choose, and then tells of heart-pounding stalking and serial killer type behavior. Throughout, Baron gives historical retellings of other encounters with mountain lions. The book wraps up as well as this story can be wrapped up, with lose ends flying in the wind as we search for answers to our desire to move into the territory of wild animals. Baron spares no one, including the parents of the young man killed or the Division of Wildlife employees, who in my opinion appear to be worthless.

To compare this story to the book and movie Jaws is right on. However, we have to remember that this is a story about real people and real events and real animals and should be taken seriously since attacks by wild animals on humans seem to be increasing at a high rate. It is amazing to me that some people who had their pet dogs carried off by cougars appear to be more upset than some people whose very lives are affected. To read about these people and their silly ideas and patently absurd notions about moving back to nature is eye-opening. When the west was truly wild, we did not live with these magnificent creatures. We hunted them or stayed out of their way; we did not try to live with them. And we certainly did not think they were cute, cute enough to take their pictures as they lolly-gagged on our patios where our pets and children play.

This book deserves to be a bestseller since it is both a great read and discusses issues of major importance. I hope the publisher and booksellers give this book the attention it so richly deserves. I also hope that Mr. Baron continues with his writing since he has a unique talent of being able to inform without being preachy and at the same time tell a riveting story. It is one of those books that held my attention throughout and that I read slowly so it would not end so quickly. And the ending is fitting to any book about serial killers and the like, which is to say the ending is truly chilling.

Rating:
Summary: A RIVETING TALE OF A 4-LEGGED SERIAL KILLER
Review: This book is amazing and riveting in the telling of our encroachment into the territory of wild animals, specifically the cougar, or mountain lion. It is hard to believe that this is the first book by David Baron, because it is everything a book should be: it begins with the heart of the story (the killing of a young runner, probably by a cougar) and then delves into those subjects we never feel we are interested in or can understand, such as science, the natural history of the Wild West, man's insistence on doing what we want, when we want, and living anyplace we choose, and then tells of heart-pounding stalking and serial killer type behavior. Throughout, Baron gives historical retellings of other encounters with mountain lions. The book wraps up as well as this story can be wrapped up, with lose ends flying in the wind as we search for answers to our desire to move into the territory of wild animals. Baron spares no one, including the parents of the young man killed or the Division of Wildlife employees, who in my opinion appear to be worthless.

To compare this story to the book and movie Jaws is right on. However, we have to remember that this is a story about real people and real events and real animals and should be taken seriously since attacks by wild animals on humans seem to be increasing at a high rate. It is amazing to me that some people who had their pet dogs carried off by cougars appear to be more upset than some people whose very lives are affected. To read about these people and their silly ideas and patently absurd notions about moving back to nature is eye-opening. When the west was truly wild, we did not live with these magnificent creatures. We hunted them or stayed out of their way; we did not try to live with them. And we certainly did not think they were cute, cute enough to take their pictures as they lolly-gagged on our patios where our pets and children play.

This book deserves to be a bestseller since it is both a great read and discusses issues of major importance. I hope the publisher and booksellers give this book the attention it so richly deserves. I also hope that Mr. Baron continues with his writing since he has a unique talent of being able to inform without being preachy and at the same time tell a riveting story. It is one of those books that held my attention throughout and that I read slowly so it would not end so quickly. And the ending is fitting to any book about serial killers and the like, which is to say the ending is truly chilling.

Rating:
Summary: Urban sprawl and open spaces coexisting
Review: This is an incredible account of the very complex issues surrounding the effects of urban sprawl overtaking more and more of our natural landscapes (which, quite honestly, has been true since the very beginning of the American experience) and the natural world that we then seek to protect. Predator (in this case, the mountain lion) and a new form of prey (whether that be pets, deer, or in the most extreme case, humans) are thrust into a new environment living side by side. As communities struggle to both support economic growth and be environmental and social conscious, the natural world finds itself doing what it always has done, adapt and evolve its patterns, often at the expense of those trying to benefit from the changes or fiscal opportunities. One example is of two businessmen who decide to raise deer, but see their money eaten by one of these coexisting predators. They have to resort to calling in an expert tracker who uses dogs who track the animal until it is killed.

However, even this is not enough to spur the kind of dialogues that should be taking place until a young athlete is killed.

This book, while some might find frustrating in that it doesn't try to convince you of "the answer", does implore us to start exploring how these two worlds can coexist, if they can. If those who are environmentally conscious believe they can, then how will our own comfort levels have to give way to survival of the fittest.

This is an excellent and accessible read to those who may never have considered these issues, but find it thought provoking.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding book...
Review: This is an outstanding book about the relationship between humans and mountain lions. The story centers on a jogger tragically killed (and partially eaten) by a mountain lion that had become habituated to humans. In the process of telling the story (a factual event), the author describes the history and evolution of mountain lions, their historical relationships with humans, lion behavior, the problems encountered when humans and mountain lions move into each others' habitats, and how the two can coexist. The author does a great job of tying everything together in a work that is both very informative and highly readable.

I highly recommend this book! It is one of the best books I have read in a long time.

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Summary: When cougars move to a community
Review: When cougars move to a community

By Elizabeth Laden
Island Park News


"Whether guided by a divine hand or biological imperative, the mountain lions are sending a message; they are signaling a change of era, not just to those few who have had direct encounters with them but to America as a whole. The cats, emboldened and proliferating, are heralds of a new stage in the nation's evolution, a changed relationship between man and nature that will require an attendant adjustment in cultural attitudes." - David Baron

When Elk Creek Estates resident Ron Wilkes told me about shooting a mountain lion recently that was in the middle of attacking his family's pet, I immediately thought of a book I had read last year titled, The Beast in the Garden: A Modern Parable of Man and Nature by David Baron (W. W. Norton & Co., New York, 2004).
This 277-page non fiction winner of the 2003 Colorado Book Award is about the growing number of cougar attacks in Colorado. It reads like a suspense-building thriller, and when I reread it this week, I wondered if Island Park would be the setting of a similar page-turner some time soon. Since the January 7 attack at the Wilkes place, at least one other mountain lion had been sighted in our community.
For more than 20 years, the "beasts" - cougars - in Baron's "garden" - the animal-loving community of Boulder, Colorado, have killed and injured both humans and animals. Cougars started coming into populated areas in this scenic part of Colorado soon after residents posted their land against hunting and decided that the would tolerate the large population of deer that had moved into their parks and residential neighborhood.
Cougars love deer, and when they followed their prey into town, people decided that they would tolerate the cats even after they killed pets and threatened humans. In an historic Colorado Division of Wildlife meeting to discuss the growing number of cougar attacks, the majority of people voted against hunting down the cougars. Although the vote was controversial, the Division of Wildlife's reaction was even more so. The agency decided to bend to the people's will and to manage the cats as little as possible They would not hunt, trap, or relocate problem animals.
Boulder is like many other modern day communities, Baron asserts, whose residents believe that wild animals have rights. Baron believes that people have "evolved" into this view of animals so different that 50 years ago, when predators were viewed as enemies that must be killed for the protection of people and more economically attractive species. Baron contends that the Endangers Species Act of 1974 advances the thinking that people have an obligation to protect animals and keep them from becoming endangered and extinct. Decisions about how to manage animals that a half century ago would have been exterminated without fanfare are most likely to occur in communities at the edge of wild habitat, says Baron. Communities like Boulder, Colorado, and Island Park, Idaho.
Wildlife biologists Baron interviewed noted that when one cougar is killed, another will move into its territory. Cougars learn from one another. In Boulder, they have developed a taste for domestic cats and dogs and they stalk people in places at the edge of town, like hiking trails, which they have learned people visit often. Researchers were certain that the cats stalk the pets before hey kill them, even learning when the pets' owners leave home, return home, and turn outside lights on and off.
Did the mountain lion that killed the Wilkes' pet have cubs who are now stalking pets and other animals? Perhaps other pets have been attacked, but dragged away without the owner suspecting that a mountain lion was the cause.
Time will tell if this area's mountain lion population is increasing and if the cats are getting bold enough to encounter people and domestic animals.
Meanwhile, it may be a good idea to read Baron's book and think about how this community would react to a population of habituated mountain lions. Perhaps if a Boulder resident had shot the first cougar that invaded a neighborhood, Scott Lancaster would not have been killed when he was running in the hills outside Boulder in 1991. Someday we may all be grateful that Ron Wilkes grabbed his gun rather than try to make friends with the beast in his backyard.
The memory of finding Lancaster's body will live forever in searcher Steve Shelafo's mind. Baron writes:
"During his years in wilderness rescue, Steve had seen plenty of corpses - dismembered in plane crashes, bloated from drowning, crushed after falling from cliffs. This sight was more than gruesome; it was both haunting and indescribably weird. The body, clothed in athletic gear, wasn't sloppily mangled; it was carefully carved, hollowed out like a pumpkin. Someone had cut a circle from the front of the sweatshirt and the turquoise T-shirt beneath, sliced through the skin and bones, exposed the chest cavity, and plucked out the organs. After conducting this ghoulish backwoods surgery the killer had removed the victim's face and then sprinkled moss and twigs on the lower torso as if to signify something profound, as if performing a macabre ritual."
David Baron has worked as a science reporter and a science correspondent/editor for National Public Radio, and currently serves as global development editor for the BBC program, The World.
For more information about The Beast in the Garden and photos of subject matter addressed in the book, go to www.beastinthegarden.com

Rating:
Summary: A must read.
Review: Wildlife protection and urban infringement have changed man's relationship with nature. Today, no area is safe as habituated animals adapt to city life. Mr. Baron does an outstanding job of explaining our association with wildlife, and provides a startling glimpse into our future. Entertaining, and informative, I highly recommend this book.