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Lynx Loose In Atlanta Captured; Neighbors Unhappy
http://www.ajc.com/thursday/content/...532af0052.html
Buckhead lynx takes bait: A chicken snack Breeder set trap that brought wildcat home Milo Ippolito - Staff Sasquatch, the missing lynx, is back home in Buckhead, though it's not entirely welcome by the neighbors. After a two-week tour of the Mount Paran neighborhood, the oversized cat was caught Tuesday by its owner, wildcat breeder Fred Boyajian, state wildlife officials said. The lynx, a North American wildcat, had been prowling through yards and startling residents. Sasquatch looks a lot like a house cat but is as big as a golden retriever. His owner said he had escaped after a falling tree damaged his outdoor pen. Neighbors raised complaints about the animals at a meeting Sunday, but there may be little they can do. Boyajian has a state license to raise wildcats and has about a dozen at his home. State Department of Natural Resources officials say he has been properly licensed for 20 years, and his facility passed a reinspection last week. He is one of four lynx breeders in Georgia and the only one in the city, the DNR said. He is licensed to sell lynxes to exhibitors such as zoos or circuses but not as pets in Georgia. "I don't understand why anybody in their right mind would give him permits to raise wildcats in a neighborhood," said Margo Boden, who lives on Paces Valley Road, the same street as Boyajian. Boyajian did not return calls for comment Tuesday or Wednesday. He has voiced his displeasure with the media attention drawn by the escape. Sasquatch's taste of freedom ended inside a trap baited with chicken. "It's a few pounds lighter and a little dehydrated, but other than that it's pretty healthy," said Raymond Carnley, a spokesman for the state Wildlife Resources Division. Boyajian put out the trap, Carnley said, after a neighbor spotted the cat in her yard. This wasn't the first of Boyajian's animals to escape, state records and neighbors say. The Wildlife Resources Division notes there had been two brief escapes in the past two years. Boyajian retrieved the cats the same day. Here's a story which ran the day befo http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/met...10wildcat.html Loose lynx put spotlight on legal breeder, upsetting him, residents By MILO IPPOLITO The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published on: 06/09/04 Neighbors of a man who raises big wildcats on a residential Buckhead street are fed up with his oversized felines. "Issuing permits in a residential area to breed exotic wild animals seems a little bit crazy to me," said Veanne Smith, who lives in the Mount Paran area. Fred Boyajian of Paces Valley Road is a licensed wildlife breeder who has been operating legally for 20 years, according to the state Department of Natural Resources. Breeders must be in compliance with city and county codes before they can get a state license, DNR officials said. His facility passed a reinspection last week, officials said. Boyajian, who was upset with media coverage following the escape of a lynx from his property Memorial Day weekend, said he fears the unintended attention could pose a threat to the safety of his animals and the security of his operation. "I'm a very private person, and I don't need this publicity," Boyajian said earlier this week, before the lynx was recaptured. The animal, named Sasquatch, was hanging out in the yard of a neighbor who alerted Boyajian, who set a trap and secured the animal. The wildcat weighed a little less than when he left home and was dehydrated, but seemed no worse for the wear. Smith questions whether breeding big cats "is a reasonable thing to do in a neighborhood with small children." Some residents had no idea there were wild predators nearby until the lynx got loose and began roaming the neighborhood. The lynx, which resembles a house cat but is the size of a golden retriever, had been spotted in back yards and on porches, staring into homes, apparently in search of food and shelter. It didn't hurt anyone, but startled a few. According to stories that circulated in the neighborhood while the cat was loose, one person jumped into a pool upon seeing it. Another person is said to have grabbed a chair to fend it off, lion-tamer style. Smith said her 4-year-old was scared about going to Chastain Park to watch a youth all-star game and asked whether big cats go to baseball fields. A neighbor said her son took his baseball bat when he went outside to fetch the mail. State wildlife biologist Scott Frazier said a lynx in the wild normally won't eat anything bigger than a raccoon, an assessment that offered little comfort to parents of infants and toddlers. The topic was discussed Sunday at a homeowners meeting in Kingswood, the subdivision where Boyajian lives. Residents discussed their concern but questioned whether there is anything they could do. There have been incidents in previous years in which cats escaped their confines, but Boyajian was able to retrieve them the same day, according to DNR reports. "This is the first one we know of that has escaped and has been out of the cage for an extended period of time," said Raymond Carnley, a spokesman for the state Wildlife Resource Division. The animal got loose after tree debris knocked over part of a fence during a storm, Carnley said. Boyajian has a dozen or more big cats in pens on his property, Carnley said. The lynx, which is native to North America, is the largest breed Boyajian is licensed to raise. He is licensed to sell them to zoos, circuses and other commercial exhibitors but he cannot sell them as pets in Georgia, where they are illegal as house pets, Carnley said. Driving by his home, you'd never know wild animals are being raised there. Boyajian's home is set back from the road on wooded property. He tends to keep to himself, both he and neighbors say. ************************************************** ************ In the first place, I'm not thrilled about the idea of raising most types of "higher order" wild animals in captivity (snakes, for example, I could care less about being raised in captivity) unless there's an issue of preserving the species. In addition, I understand the neighbors concerns. I'm surprised the zoning laws allow this guy to raise animals in a residential area. Poor cat-it sounds like he didn't have any hunting skills-I would think a wildcat would have been able to live off of squirrels, birds and rabbits in the woods where it was loose but my guess is that this poor fellow was been raised in captivity since he was young and just knew to look for food from people. I'm glad he was found OK but not particularly enthused about him living his life in a pen. |
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I agree. It makes me so angry that idiotic people actually try to keep wild
animals as pets. That guy in New York back a few months ago---where could he have gotten a tiger? And an alligator! And how absolutely, INCREDIBLY STUPID of him to think he could keep either of them in a city apartment! In answer to my own question: he got them from someone like this guy here, a liscensed exotic animal breeder. (or, maybe on the black market, I realize, too) There is just absolutely no reason for animals such as these to be accessible to the general public. I really have mixed feelings about zoos, too. The fact is, zoos use baby animals to draw in the public and increase proceeds---but when those animals grow up and they don't draw the crowds in anymore, they are likely to be sold to other, less scrupulous venues where they won't be well cared for and become targets for abuse. |
#3
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I agree. It makes me so angry that idiotic people actually try to keep wild
animals as pets. That guy in New York back a few months ago---where could he have gotten a tiger? And an alligator! And how absolutely, INCREDIBLY STUPID of him to think he could keep either of them in a city apartment! In answer to my own question: he got them from someone like this guy here, a liscensed exotic animal breeder. (or, maybe on the black market, I realize, too) There is just absolutely no reason for animals such as these to be accessible to the general public. I really have mixed feelings about zoos, too. The fact is, zoos use baby animals to draw in the public and increase proceeds---but when those animals grow up and they don't draw the crowds in anymore, they are likely to be sold to other, less scrupulous venues where they won't be well cared for and become targets for abuse. |
#4
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I agree. It makes me so angry that idiotic people actually try to keep wild
animals as pets. That guy in New York back a few months ago---where could he have gotten a tiger? And an alligator! And how absolutely, INCREDIBLY STUPID of him to think he could keep either of them in a city apartment! In answer to my own question: he got them from someone like this guy here, a liscensed exotic animal breeder. (or, maybe on the black market, I realize, too) There is just absolutely no reason for animals such as these to be accessible to the general public. I really have mixed feelings about zoos, too. The fact is, zoos use baby animals to draw in the public and increase proceeds---but when those animals grow up and they don't draw the crowds in anymore, they are likely to be sold to other, less scrupulous venues where they won't be well cared for and become targets for abuse. |
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On 11 Jun 2004 08:48:14 -0700,
(CajunPrincess) yodeled: (snip) "I'm a very private person, and I don't need this publicity," Boyajian said earlier this week, before the lynx was recaptured. (snip) I'll bet he is. I'll bet he doesn't. Creep. Theresa My Blog: http://www.humanitas.blogspot.com alt.tv.frasier FAQ: http://www.im-listening.net/FAQ/ |
#6
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On 11 Jun 2004 08:48:14 -0700,
(CajunPrincess) yodeled: (snip) "I'm a very private person, and I don't need this publicity," Boyajian said earlier this week, before the lynx was recaptured. (snip) I'll bet he is. I'll bet he doesn't. Creep. Theresa My Blog: http://www.humanitas.blogspot.com alt.tv.frasier FAQ: http://www.im-listening.net/FAQ/ |
#7
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On 11 Jun 2004 08:48:14 -0700,
(CajunPrincess) yodeled: (snip) "I'm a very private person, and I don't need this publicity," Boyajian said earlier this week, before the lynx was recaptured. (snip) I'll bet he is. I'll bet he doesn't. Creep. Theresa My Blog: http://www.humanitas.blogspot.com alt.tv.frasier FAQ: http://www.im-listening.net/FAQ/ |
#8
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"Crdamz" wrote in I really have mixed feelings about zoos, too. The fact is, zoos use baby animals to draw in the public and increase proceeds---but when those animals grow up and they don't draw the crowds in anymore, they are likely to be sold to other, less scrupulous venues where they won't be well cared for and become targets for abuse. This may be true for some private zoos, which IMO should be made illegal everywhere. However, all respectable zoos carry out very valuable work in promoting species that would be facing extinction otherwise. There are programmes and contracts that cover zoos all over the world, in which many endangered species are bred, and their gene pool is maintained so that it is varied enough (i.e. no inbreeding, this is why zoos exchange animals systematically). All this is very expensive, of course, so getting a lot of visitors is certainly one goal. Of the animals in one of these reputable zoos, some 90-95% were born in captivity, and would hardly be able to make it in the wild. The 5-10% that were not are animals that have been found in the wild, hurt or injured in some way that they cannot make it in the wild any longer. As an example, I could mention the sea eagle that was found near our summer island one autumn. Some idiot had shot its wing full of buckshot. Sea eagles are a protected species here. The eagle was taken to the Helsinki City Zoo (where my sister works) and nursed back to health, but it will never fly again, because the wing was too badly damaged. However, this female eagle has had a number of eaglets, who have been planted back out in the wild to improve the population of sea eagles. This species was near to extinction in the 60s-70s, but is well on its way to recovery by now. I don't have the exact figures, but they are really doing well. Of course, it's not just thanks to this one eagle and her mate, it has taken a lot of other things, like feeding the eagles in winter and guarding their nests against intruders, but zoos can do very valuable work, too. It's not necessarily just a money-maker. Wow, better get off the soapbox now. -- Marina, Frank and Nikki Email marina (dot) kurten (at) pp (dot) inet (dot) fi Pics at http://uk.f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/frankiennikki |
#9
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"Crdamz" wrote in I really have mixed feelings about zoos, too. The fact is, zoos use baby animals to draw in the public and increase proceeds---but when those animals grow up and they don't draw the crowds in anymore, they are likely to be sold to other, less scrupulous venues where they won't be well cared for and become targets for abuse. This may be true for some private zoos, which IMO should be made illegal everywhere. However, all respectable zoos carry out very valuable work in promoting species that would be facing extinction otherwise. There are programmes and contracts that cover zoos all over the world, in which many endangered species are bred, and their gene pool is maintained so that it is varied enough (i.e. no inbreeding, this is why zoos exchange animals systematically). All this is very expensive, of course, so getting a lot of visitors is certainly one goal. Of the animals in one of these reputable zoos, some 90-95% were born in captivity, and would hardly be able to make it in the wild. The 5-10% that were not are animals that have been found in the wild, hurt or injured in some way that they cannot make it in the wild any longer. As an example, I could mention the sea eagle that was found near our summer island one autumn. Some idiot had shot its wing full of buckshot. Sea eagles are a protected species here. The eagle was taken to the Helsinki City Zoo (where my sister works) and nursed back to health, but it will never fly again, because the wing was too badly damaged. However, this female eagle has had a number of eaglets, who have been planted back out in the wild to improve the population of sea eagles. This species was near to extinction in the 60s-70s, but is well on its way to recovery by now. I don't have the exact figures, but they are really doing well. Of course, it's not just thanks to this one eagle and her mate, it has taken a lot of other things, like feeding the eagles in winter and guarding their nests against intruders, but zoos can do very valuable work, too. It's not necessarily just a money-maker. Wow, better get off the soapbox now. -- Marina, Frank and Nikki Email marina (dot) kurten (at) pp (dot) inet (dot) fi Pics at http://uk.f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/frankiennikki |
#10
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"Crdamz" wrote in I really have mixed feelings about zoos, too. The fact is, zoos use baby animals to draw in the public and increase proceeds---but when those animals grow up and they don't draw the crowds in anymore, they are likely to be sold to other, less scrupulous venues where they won't be well cared for and become targets for abuse. This may be true for some private zoos, which IMO should be made illegal everywhere. However, all respectable zoos carry out very valuable work in promoting species that would be facing extinction otherwise. There are programmes and contracts that cover zoos all over the world, in which many endangered species are bred, and their gene pool is maintained so that it is varied enough (i.e. no inbreeding, this is why zoos exchange animals systematically). All this is very expensive, of course, so getting a lot of visitors is certainly one goal. Of the animals in one of these reputable zoos, some 90-95% were born in captivity, and would hardly be able to make it in the wild. The 5-10% that were not are animals that have been found in the wild, hurt or injured in some way that they cannot make it in the wild any longer. As an example, I could mention the sea eagle that was found near our summer island one autumn. Some idiot had shot its wing full of buckshot. Sea eagles are a protected species here. The eagle was taken to the Helsinki City Zoo (where my sister works) and nursed back to health, but it will never fly again, because the wing was too badly damaged. However, this female eagle has had a number of eaglets, who have been planted back out in the wild to improve the population of sea eagles. This species was near to extinction in the 60s-70s, but is well on its way to recovery by now. I don't have the exact figures, but they are really doing well. Of course, it's not just thanks to this one eagle and her mate, it has taken a lot of other things, like feeding the eagles in winter and guarding their nests against intruders, but zoos can do very valuable work, too. It's not necessarily just a money-maker. Wow, better get off the soapbox now. -- Marina, Frank and Nikki Email marina (dot) kurten (at) pp (dot) inet (dot) fi Pics at http://uk.f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/frankiennikki |
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