Omaha Mountain Lion Mania - even the cops are seeing them!

Ever-vigilant Omaha area blogger Michele at ~♥~My Kids, My Life, My Story~♥~ has the scoop on the mountain lions roaming and dying in her neighborhood. In her back yard. She just posted this comment:

At First I read the headline and thought Oh hear we go with the jokes...then I read the article and thought OH GREAT! I live off of 96th and Highway 370 in Sarpy County...

If it is a mother and her cubs then Nebraska will have the face the fact that the mountain lions are breeding here and are here to stay. [my bold-pf]

Michelle's comment included a link to this KETV story Three Mountain Lions Spotted Playing In Sarpy County. KMTV also has this: More Mountain Lions?

Just days after a dead mountain lion was found along Interstate 80 in Sarpy County, there have been more sightings. On Thursday, a man reported seeing three mountain lions near 174th Street and Highway 370 in Sarpy County. Early Friday morning, a Sarpy County Sheriff's deputy reported two mountain lions near 180th and Cornhusker Road. The Sheriff's Department says Nebraska Game and Parks found some feces and paw prints at the second site. Experts are analyzing both.

So what must Omaha folks do to face up to this fact,Michele? My girlfriend seems to think we can just shoo them away. It is already against the law to hunt them down. Nobody wants to exterminate the fascinating creatures. Perhaps it would be smart merely to extirpate them from town. Coexistence just doesn't seem like a good idea.

This part of America was once the habitat of black bears. Pioneers had their livestock killed and larders raided by bears. They worried about their kids. So the settlers actively and deliberately got rid of them. Black bears weren't exterminated, merely extirpated from the area. Must we face facts and try to get along with bears if they start to come around again?

The gazelle and wildebeest herds on the African plains co-exist with lions. You know the story: the young, the weak and the sick get killed and eaten. Some folks do 'coexist' with big carnivores. Fifty or more of them are killed in India every year by tigers. But is this what we want here?
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So many questions. I'd better take another poll!