Page 14 - Black Range Naturalist - Oct 2021

Brownie’s first husband, purchased the Ghost Ranch (of Georgia O’Keefe fame) in 1935. He had been a regular visitor to the ranch for years beforehand. Frank Hibben probably met Brownie while he was working on what might be the first field study of Cougars. They later married.
Frank Hibben’s work was the inspiration for Maurice Hornocker’s (and later Shaw’s) work. Hornocker drew on Hibben’s efforts and used his experiences treeing and studying pumas to design the next step: treeing and darting pumas and fitting markers and tags. Hornocker used film productions to advance his work, both technically and in promoting carnivore conservation. To that end, he produced three documentaries for National
Geographic and several wildlife films for major American networks. The same thing Finley was doing, albeit with different technology.
Then radio collars. I have been fortunate enough to work with Harley Shaw on two short video works: Dogs and Lions, which describes his years of research, his role in developing modern telemetry technology and techniques, and his thoughts on where cougar research is going (39:41); and Trailing With Toasty, in which he describes his natural history philosophy as defined by his latest research efforts - working with a Beagle and Desert Cottontails. The April 2021 issue of this magazine includes an article about how Trailing With Toasty was made, continuing the saga of William Finley.
Finley and “Brownie” were at the inception of the documentation efforts associated with Cougar research. Hibben set the stage for later work with the big cats. Hornocker went on to become a leading authority in the field, researching, establishing research and conservation foundations, writing and editing. Editing Cougar: Ecology and Conservation in 2009, for instance.
And then on to Shaw with his many research efforts and books such as Soul Among Lions: The Cougar as Peaceful Adversary, published in 2000.
Dana and Ginger Lamb as they began their ascent up the Coatzacoalcos River in Mexico. 13