CA mountain lion management Ping!
here, kitty!
I have no problem with the hunting of mountain lions as long as they aren’t endangered and there is a big enough population to control the deer. I’d guess more people have been hurt or killed in deer collisions than attacks by mountain lions over the last 30 years.
“it’s time for California to take a reasonable middle ground...”
The unfortunate truth is that the words “California” and “reasonable” won’t ever be found in the same sentence for a very long time.
That said, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that car/deer collisions are responsible for about 150 deaths per year. Lightning kills about 60, bee stings kill 40, and pet dogs kill 30. You need to find something else to fret about.
The author of this article is misinformed. It was in 1991 not ‘72 that the law was passed that made the mountain lion a “specially protected species”. The law was passed by state initiative, so it would take a 4/5s majority in the legislature to overturn the prop. and restore management control to the F&G where it rightly belongs.
Also, the mountain lion in Ca. was never in danger of extinction. The author is correct though, that since becoming “specially protected”, the lions have exploded in population and saturated their habitat. Combining the condition of the lion population and the pressure on their habitat by increased development and the increasing number of people living and taking recreation in lion infested areas, it is a sure recipe for tragedy.
I have personal experience with this matter. About four years ago I had a small herd of goats (10) wiped out by mountain lions in little over a year. One lion I shot myself when it killed the second of my goats, and did so only 40 yards from where myself and a friend were working in front of my barn. The second lion, I called in the state trapper after the 10th goat was killed. Amazingly I still have one goat that survived. She’s the “Stealth Goat”!
Interestingly there are roughly the same number of mountain lions killed each year, now, under depredation permits, as there were in the years when they were a bountied predator. The difference now is that for every lion killed, there has been an attack on a human, domestic animal, or livestock and unlike the couple of years in the ‘70 when there was a season on lions and tags were sold to hunters, now the state receives no revenue and, in fact, has to spend money to follow up on the depredations and sometimes sends out trappers at taxpayer expense.
Absolutely, there should be a legal hunting season on lions in Ca. But, due to the law being passed by initiative, it’s not likely to ever happen until a lot more people get attacked.
One big lesson here is that wildlife management by public vote is a very bad concept and a disaster in practice.
I highly recommend packing a gun if you hike in the woods in Ca. I never go out without one!