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SBC ag official to request cougar count (CA)
Hollister Free Lance ^
| May 17, 2009
| Kollin Kosmicki
Posted on 05/17/2009 3:45:03 PM PDT by jazusamo
HOLLISTER The county agriculture commissioner supports reinstatement of a long-absent mountain lion count and plans to request that supervisors endorse a letter to the state fish and game department encouraging California leaders to reconsider it.
San Benito County Agriculture Commissioner Paul Matulich believes the state should reestablish a count because "nothing's been done since 1988" and there are concerns related to public safety, livestock security and a declining deer population. He plans to present the county board with a letter requesting a reinstatement to the lion count at its meeting May 26.
Fish and game stopped conducting official cougar counts 21 years ago as the species' population in the state - neither endangered nor threatened - had been stabilized and healthy for years. Matulich and others have become more concerned recently that the population in San Benito County has experienced a significant bump in recent years and that daytime sightings are far more likely today than they were long ago.
The most likely downside of a potentially booming cougar population is the possibility for livestock losses. Though cougars rarely approach humans, some locals also are concerned about their families' safety while citing how the species in general here has been more comfortable with daytime roaming.
The agriculture commissioner contends a big downside has been the steep decline to the deer population here and statewide. The population was one million to 1.5 million deer statewide in the 1960s, he said. Now, it is under 500,000.
He plans to address that issue in his letter to fish and game.
In particular, Matulich said the letter will question a section of Proposition 117 - the measure passed in 1990 to outlaw lion hunting in California - which also places an emphasis on protecting the state deer herd. It includes a provision setting aside $10 million for the protection of mountain lions and deer, he noted.
"Apparently, they're not going out of their way to use the money to protect the deer herd," Matulich said.
TOPICS: Outdoors; Pets/Animals
KEYWORDS: california; cougar; mountainlion
Four mountain lions are seen on local rancher Charlie McCullough's property drinking from a trough in this surveillance photo provided to the Free Lance.
Photo by: Special to the Free Lance
1
posted on
05/17/2009 3:45:04 PM PDT
by
jazusamo
To: jazusamo
encouraging California leaders to reconsider it. No. No money.
2
posted on
05/17/2009 3:49:02 PM PDT
by
BAW
(I wish I was a dog and Obama was a tree. I would stand real close to him and raise my leg to pee.)
To: george76; Inyo-Mono; girlangler; Flycatcher
3
posted on
05/17/2009 3:49:08 PM PDT
by
jazusamo
(But there really is no free lunch, except in the world of political rhetoric,.: Thomas Sowell)
To: jazusamo
Though cougars rarely approach humans
I resent them referring to males under 35 as less than human.
lol
4
posted on
05/17/2009 3:51:09 PM PDT
by
mysterio
To: jazusamo
Interesting pic. A retired DFG warden that I spoke to a few years ago says that DFG estimates that there are now between 15,000 to 20,000 mountain lions in California. Way too many he said. I agree, based on my very close encounter with two of them near town some years ago.
5
posted on
05/17/2009 4:43:00 PM PDT
by
Inyo-Mono
(Had God not driven man from the Garden of Eden the Sierra Club surely would have.)
To: jazusamo
Liberals only count their ballots, lions, etc. until they win.
Then they stop.
6
posted on
05/17/2009 4:43:29 PM PDT
by
george76
(Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
To: Inyo-Mono
Agreed, IM. 15,000 to 20,000 is a much more realistic figure than the 4,000 to 6,000 they’ve been quoting for the last 20 years.
7
posted on
05/17/2009 4:49:09 PM PDT
by
jazusamo
(But there really is no free lunch, except in the world of political rhetoric,.: Thomas Sowell)
To: jazusamo
8
posted on
05/17/2009 4:50:55 PM PDT
by
nhwingut
( Don't Blame Me. I Voted For Waterboarding...)
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