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Today's Mountain Lion News Story
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"Wildlife summit focuses on supposed mountain lion problem" - As a result of MLF's challenge to all the outrageous accusations about mountain lions threatening the extinction of California's deer herd, the San Benito County Fish & Game Advisory Commission is holding a meeting to discuss the matter
For this and other stories...
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SEVEN SIMPLE FACTS
ABOUT
CALIFORNIA’S
MOUNTAIN LIONS AND PROPOSITION 117
"With better understanding of mountain
lions and their habitat, we can coexist with these magnificent animals"
-"Living With California Mountain Lions", California Department of Fish
& Game (CDFG)
The solitary life and elusive movements of the cougar only feed its
mystery; a mystery as old as human history. Mountain lion, cougar, and
puma are all names for this enigmatic and majestic wild cat that has
roamed California
and the continent of North America for
tens of thousands of years. Witness to native tribal migration, Spanish
exploration, Russian fur traders, the gold rush, our headlong surge
through the 20th century and the extinction of other native
species, this solitary animal continues to play an important role in our
ecosystem.
FACT # 1
Are California's
Mountain Lions Dangerous?
Human encounters with mountain lions are rare and the risk of injury or death from an attack
is infinitely small. Since 1890 only 21 people have been killed by mountain lions on the entire
North American Continent
According to current statistics, your chances of being killed by a domestic dog are more than ten times
greater. In California, about two people every year are killed by pet dogs and thousands more are treated
in hospitals for severe bites and injuries (National Canine Research Center). The Hunter Incident
Clearinghouse reported that in just the year 2002 alone, hunting accidents in the United States killed
89 people and injured 761. NOAA estimates about a hundred people are killed every year in the US by
lightning. On the list of daily “dangers” faced by Californians, mountain lions are but a footnote.
FACT # 2
Is the Mountain Lion
Population in California
“Exploding” Due to Proposition 117?
NO!
According to cougar expert, Dr. Maurice Hornocker, "...mountain lions
will never overrun the countryside. These animals are very territorial
and limit their own numbers." A cougar leads a very solitary life,
having little contact with others unless mating or mothering. The home
range of a single, lone adult often spans 100 square miles. As a
function of their territorial needs, social stability, and mutual
avoidance, cougar populations tend to be widely dispersed and
self-regulating which means that their numbers remain relatively
constant.
(Click here to find out more about
the biology and behavior of mountain lions as well as to read selected
chapters from Cougar: The American Lion.)
FACT # 3
Why Have So Many Mountain
Lions Been Sighted Lately?
According to the California
Department of Fish and Game, “caution must be used in interpreting
reports from the public involving mountain lions. Many reports are
difficult, if not impossible to verify." Then why the recent rash of
reported sightings amid rumors of
"skyrocketing" attacks? Both are byproducts of increased public
interest, sensational media coverage, gun-lobby hype, deliberate
attempts to generate public fear, and unabated human expansion into wild
and undeveloped areas of the state. Many reports are impossible to
confirm. Some are simply in error. At one time, CDFG determined that
over 80 percent of all reported mountain lion sightings in Placer County
alone were false.
FACT # 4
How Does
California
Manage its Mountain Lion Population without Trophy Hunting?
Under current law the
California Department of Fish and Game is empowered and obligated to
manage mountain lions and provide for the public's safety in a strategic
and proactive manner. The law specifically instructs CDFG to kill (or
authorize qualified others to kill) any and all cougars that they
perceive to be a threat to humans. In fact, it allows anyone to
kill in defense of self, property, or others.
Current law also charges CDFG
to kill any and all cougars that pose a threat to livestock, domestic
animals, endangered species or property.
(Click here to see the current
number of Depredation Permits issued, and the number of mountain lions
killed in California.)
FACT # 5
Would Allowing the Trophy Hunting of Mountain Lions Make Californians
Safer?
According to Dr. Rick Hopkins,
who has done extensive studies of cougars in California, trophy hunting can not keep
Californians safe from mountain lions. As far as he is concerned, “a
dead cougar cannot and does not teach the living lions to fear man.”
Trophy hunting of mountain
lions could in fact place more Californians at risk.
Dr. Paul Bier, another
renowned field researcher and mountain lion expert, has found that
mountain lions who attack humans are most often young yearlings (both
sexes), followed by adult females, with adult males least inclined to
attack humans.
Since hunters tend to take
large adult males as trophies, hunting may well cause an increase in the
number of yearlings-i.e., the class most prone to attack humans."
(Click here to read MLF’s Effects of Sport Hunting
Mountain Lions on Safety
and Livestock)
FACT # 6
In Addition to the Banning of Trophy Hunting, How Does Proposition 117
Save Lions?
Section 4800 of Proposition 117 specifically classifies mountain lions
as “a specially
protected mammal under the laws of thi s state,” but this is only
prevents them from being shot for sport.
To ensure that mountain lions as well as the rest of
California’s wildlife have a place to exist in
the future, Proposition 117, the California Wildlife Protection Act of
1990 allocates $30 million of State funds per year to
protect and preserve the State’s most critical wild areas.
This allocation, paid for with funds generated through
wildlife habitat acquisition bonds, as well as the unused portion of the
cigarette tax monies is used for the following purposes:
(a) The acquisition of
habitat, including native oak woodlands, necessary to protect deer and
mountain lions.
(b) The acquisition of
habitat to protect rare, endangered, threatened, or fully protected
species.
(c) The acquisition of
habitat to further implement the Habitat Conservation Program pursuant
to Article 2 (commencing with Section 2721) excepting Section 2722 and
subdivision (a) of Section 2723, and Sections 2724 and 2729.
(d) The acquisition,
enhancement, or restoration of wetlands.
(e) The acquisition,
restoration, or enhancement of aquatic habitat for spawning and rearing
of anadromous salmonids and trout resources.
(f) The acquisition,
restoration, or enhancement of riparian habitat.
(Click here for more information on Proposition 117, and to
see which parks and wildlife refuges have benefited from the California
Wildlife Protection Act of 1990.)
FACT # 7
How Can I Help Save Mountain Lions and Ensure that Proposition 117 Isn’t
Repealed?
1. Join the Mountain
Lion Foundation. MLF is a national nonprofit conservation and education
organization dedicated to increasing understanding of and protection for
mountain lions and their habitat. A $35 annual membership contribution
is suggested, but no set amount (either less or more) is needed to join
MLF. Your support—both
financial and as a local lion activist—will make a big difference.
(Click
here to join/donate)
or
contact MLF and sign up as a
volunteer
today.
2. Sign up for MLF’s
Proposition 117 Action Alerts.
San Benito County is the first local government this time to
suggest the need to repeal Proposition 117 and reintroduce the trophy
hunting of mountain lions, but other local governments and state
legislators may soon get into the act.
As a participant you will be in the forefront of breaking action,
and will receive specific tasks to help keep mountain lions and
Proposition 117 safe.
(Click
here to sign up.)
3. If you live in lion
country, consider protecting your pets and livestock from
mountain lions
through appropriate animal husbandry practices rather than ill-advised
predator-killing programs.
Simple, common sense practices such as bringing your pets indoors at
night, or securing your livestock in covered enclosures for the evening
have been proven to save mountain lions, by reducing the number of
human/lion conflicts.
(click
here to find out more about protecting your pets and livestock from
mountain lions.)
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