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Photo courtesy of Stephanie R. Schneider
By Paul Tolmé
HUMBOLDT STATE . S GO-TO-GUY FOR wildlife crises got
the call early on the morning of Nov. 8, 2006:
a mountain lion was holed up underneath
Warren House, and campus police were concerned
about public safety. The area swarmed with police
and game wardens as Professor Rick Golightly arrived
to assess the situation. Some wanted to shoot the cat
but Golightly, who has sedated hundreds of animals
in the field, had a better idea. Immobilize it.
The crowd hushed as Golightly, holding a fivefoot
jab stick with a syringe at the tip, crept around
the house and located the cat crouched in a dark
corner. A thin wooden lattice separated the cat from
Golightly, who could hear the animal breathing. As
a police officer distracted the cougar, Golightly took
aim and jabbed. He then crawled under the house
and, after injecting another dose of sedative, pulled
out the woozy lion, which was relocated by the
California Department of Fish and Game.
The incident made headlines and Golightly
was congratulated for his daring, but the mildmannered
wildlife biologist eschews praise.
“It wasn’t as big a deal as some people made it
out to be.”
Call it all in a day’s work for someone who
has studied and handled an astounding array of
animals – lions, bears, elk, deer, raptors, foxes,
coyotes, raccoons, fishers, martens and more –
during 28 years at HSU. As director of the campus
Marine Wildlife Care Center, Golightly helps rescue
Left: Twice a year, Professor Rick Golightly ferries student researchers to Castle Rock,
one of the largest seabird colonies on the California coast. Graduate student Katie
Rian reaches for supplies as Golightly operates the boat. Right: Golightly uses radio
telemetry and remote cameras to track elusive wildlife.
seabirds harmed by oil spills (see sidebar). “Rick
always seems to be doing risky work or dealing
with sensitive species,” says Luke George, former
Wildlife Department chairman. “I can’t imagine
too many people wanting to crawl under a house
with a young, hungry mountain lion.”
Now, after a long career filled with highlights,
HSU’s wildlife jack-of-all-trades is winning
accolades for his cutting-edge use of remote video
cameras to study seabirds. Golightly’s work with
elusive marbled murrelets is being funded in part
by National Geographic. “Rick could toot his horn
a lot more but he doesn’t. He’s humble,” says retired
Wildlife Professor Dave Kitchen. Adds Eric Nelson,
manager of the Humboldt Bay National Wildlife
Refuge: “The guy goes about 350 miles an hour
all the time.”
One of Golightly’s proudest achievements is
the placement of video cameras on Castle Rock,
one of the largest seabird colonies along the
California coast. The island bustles with 100,000
birds during breeding season, but studying the
birds is difficult. Castle Rock, two miles off the
coast of Crescent City, is treacherous to reach and
human presence can disrupt nesting.
Thanks to the robotic cameras installed
in 2006, student researchers can zoom in on
nesting common murres, puffins, cormorants,
petrels and auklets to check for eggs and
observe feeding habits without disturbing the birds.
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