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I’m sure you heard something about the mountain lion shot in Berkeley near Chez Panisse at the end of August. It was slinking through the neighborhoods at 2 am and leaping over fences before a neighbor called the police. For a short period of time they hoped they could drive it out of the urban area into the park, but then gave up and killed it with a shotgun. It was a female, around 95 lbs, and surely the closest brush with a mountain lion that part of Berkeley has ever known.

Could something else have been done? Zara McDonald, of the Felidae Conservation Fund in Sausalito says no. Even if the police had used a tranquilizer gun they wouldn’t have known where to bring the big cat. Zara was the dynamic speaker at the most recent Valley of the Moon lecture. She’s involved with the Santa Cruz Moutain Lion project and co-founder of the Bay Area Puma Project that is in its early stages. It is estimated that, given the population of humans we have now around the state, our cat numbers are ‘at capacity’. We don’t have room for many more, although we clearly need to figure out how to take care of the ones we have.

Enter Jim Hale (remember him from the article in Bay Nature?). He wants to develop a mobile crisis unit that can respond the next time a Big Cat wanders where he shouldn’t be. He would like to train the local police, network with wildlife advocates and educate the public about the value of these animals. My dinner guest last night, Cindy Spring of Close to Home, wants to help, and Gary Bogue thinks it’s an idea worth getting behind and wants to be involved.

This is an idea in its infancy, but one that these people are passionate about. I know we’ll hear more about it soon. I thought I’d give you an initial glimpse so you can see how these things get started. Good people with good ideas getting together to make a difference.

I’m told that (to the untrained eye) sleek mountain lions are somewhat ‘sexier’ than lumpy beavers, so I have every faith they’ll get lots of help!

My, my, my. That was quite a crowd. I’m told the room accommodated 100 people, but there were people standing and chairs being added. Apparently its one of the biggest crowds they’ve had. The space was beautiful, the people warm and generous and the entire evening was kind of magical.

If you’ve never been to Montclair Presbyterian, the church is nestled in this jewel of a setting with twisty streets under overhanging branches and homes that make you think you’re in Inverness or Occidental, not minutes away from the Caldecott Tunnel.The vision, heart and hands behind Close to Home is Cindy Spring, who was organized, appreciative and well equipped. The technology of the evening ran smoothly, and we had everything we needed for the 90 minute talk.

I talked about the beaver drama, the civic response, the publicity, the sheetpile, the children’s art, the festivals, the subcommittee and the animals themselves. It was delightful to finally have enough time too be able to explain it all. I was even able to conclude by mentioning the beaver historic prevalence research we are working on, which the room found very intriguing. I talked about salmon and bird populations going up with the number of secondary dams, and I’m pretty certain most of that room will be taking amtrak in the next month to beaver watch in the evening and have dinner downtown. Lots will come to the beaver festival too. And most will write the mayor when they do.

It was one of those tightly attentive groups where everyone laughs in the right places and rolls their eyes at the same things. When I finished talking there was applause but not a single person got out of their chairs. They had great questions and clapped again after I answered them. Afterwards, a handful of people came up to say it was a great presentation, to say they were inspired by the idea that someone could get so personally involved, and to thank me for making them feel involved too. Cindy insisted on setting up a donation box and we received generous cash donations in addition to the payment for the talk Close to home provided. All in all, it was such a positive evening that we chattered cheerfully all the way home and forgot to pick up Jon’s car from where he met me at the office.

Oops!

Thank you for a great night, and the final performance on this season’s beaver speaking tour! I won’t be doing any more beaver talks for the foreseeable future and can concentrate on the festival and the day job. Thanks Igor Skaredoff for introducing me to the Close to Home folks last year, and Cindy for reminding me how many caring, intelligent and responsible people there are in the world.

If seven maids with seven mops
Swept it for half a year.
Do you suppose,” the Walrus said,
“That they could get it clear?”
“I doubt it,” said the Carpenter,
And shed a bitter tear.

Lewis Carrol

More great gulf reporting from Rachel last night. The SF Examiner wrote about it this morning.

Here’s a little cold slice of fiscal responsibility you might consider as well from this mornings New York Times;

The idea that BP might one day file for bankruptcy, particularly as part of a merger that would enable it to cordon off its liabilities from the spill, is starting to percolate on Wall Street. Bankers and lawyers are already sizing up potential deals (and counting their potential fees).

Given the plunge in BP’s share price — the company has lost more than a third of its value since Deepwater Horizon blew — some bankers and analysts say BP is starting to look like takeover bait. The question is, who would buy BP, given its enormous potential liabilities?

Shell and Exxon Mobil are both said to be licking their chops. And already, flinty legal minds are dreaming up scenarios in which BP would file a prepackaged bankruptcy and separate the costs of the cleanup — and potentially billions of dollars in legal claims — into a separate corporate entity.