Editor:

"Ranger kills Mountain Lion" (Blog Jammin', May 16) sums up the end result, but the article ignored the fundamental issue that a loose and unsupervised dog created the situation and responsibility for the "attack" belongs to the dog owner.

The mountain lion "chased" the dog because the loose dog was a legitimate threat to the cat. Most wildlife are ill-equipped to defend themselves from a loose dog — a common local example would be shorebirds on the beach being chased by loose dogs. Dog owners would raise hell if their animals were subject to being chased around the neighborhood a few dozen times a day by some other animal wanting to "play."

Questions must be asked of the ranger who exhibited such a profound disrespect for the environment — is this person responsible for enforcing regulations they won't follow? Do they interpret and educate others about our wildlife?

The Park Service needs to hold such an irresponsible public employee to account.

George Ziminsky, Arcata