For the past year or two, rumors have been flying around the campus about the existence of mountain lions in the woods.
Ever since California declared mountain lions to be “endangered” a decade ago, it has been against the law to hunt them. The few lions that do get killed by humans are the result of people defending their livestock or pets, which the lions eat because they’re easier to catch than deer—which are not “endangered” but are harder to catch because a six-month-old deer runs faster than a six-month-old puppy. Since humans scare lions (because we are, after all, their only predator) they mostly keep away. But every once in a while we bump into one another.
Anyway, after two years of unofficial sightings (mostly unbelievable rumors, with few exceptions) there has finally been an “official” sighting, and now Bethany University students have an official reason to let their paranoia run amok. I suppose it’s nice that the students will stay indoors at night (particularly the women, who are noisier). But I know from experience that lions are more afraid of us than we are of them, and there’s still nothing to be afraid of.