CW: Animal Death. A thread on the failures of Human-Wildlife conflict. Yesterday I found out that a family who I was helping for a year decided to opt for a depredation permit after a devastating mountain lion depredation event. I was called to help after the second depredation..

..At that point, the mountain lion had taken two goats and although this family's herd of goats and sheep was small they really wanted to try and use non-lethals. It's important to say that they made a living selling goat&sheep products like handmade soap, wool etc but not meat.

I responded by establishing a network of fox lights, radio stations and camera traps. It seemed that an injured male lion hang around the farm. Then the third depredation event occurred, this time a livestock guardian dog. This is highly unusual but can occur...

...The family grieved but was understanding. They decided to set up some night pens for all the animals. I helped by providing labor and materials where I could. In the interim a horse was injured. Fourth event. We decided to electrify the fencing for good measure....

After that no depredation for a few months. The mtn lion would occasionally show up on camera and scat and scrapes indicated it stuck around but was cautious. Then on January 1st somehow the mountain lion got into the goat pen killing six goats and fatally injuring two more....

The family decided that at this point they couldn't afford to lose more money and opted for a depredation permit which was issued to them. Now they have roughly 10 days to shoot that mountain lion. I tried everything I possibly could to stop this. Every trick in the book...

...yet I feel like I failed. I feel like I failed the farm and that I failed the lion. Part of me wishes I did more but I have no idea what I could have done different. I played it safe a few times with Covid and maybe I shouldn't have?Maybe I should have tried to get more funds?

And here is the crux of this thread. In Human-Wildlife Conflict, failure is a lot more tangible than success. You can witness the effects of failure yet not so often the effects of success. So I urge you, if you are in the field, take some mental health days. They can be crucial.

Wildlife can be unpredictable. You can throw everything you can at it and still not respond the way textbooks or experience says you should. Understanding and rationalizing this means you can be in a better headspace and not let the job get you down