Feature image by Coexistence Ambassador Sean Hoover

The Mountain Lion Foundation’s Coexistence Ambassadors are a group of trained volunteers in 11 states working as community advocates for coexistence with wildlife. We train a cohort of Ambassadors each summer on a working sheep ranch in mountain lion country to give them a strong foundation in practical skills. These competencies include talking to the public about mountain lions and their value to ecosystems, understanding depredations and how to identify the responsible carnivore, crisis response, productively working with community leaders, and how to use the tools of deterrence and exclusion.

The training includes hands-on exercises with electric fences, Foxlights, Gadflys, and working animals like Livestock Guardian Dogs. We also teach about the ecological importance of mountain lions and the legal frameworks of how they are (and aren’t) protected in various states.

Our Ambassadors go on to form a supportive network unlike any other. After training camp, they participate in continuing education and community support through monthly zoom meetings. Both Mountain Lion Foundation staff and Ambassadors themselves, many of whom work in the field of conservation, host these educational sessions. When volunteers are needed, the Ambassadors can be mobilized for everything from tabling at community events to helping install deterrent devices for both community safety and data gathering.

2024 was a challenging year for our Ambassadors, and we are so proud of everything they accomplished.

In Colorado, our Ambassadors fought hard to protect wild cats from trophy hunting, and strung barbed wire with staff to help a ranch recover from wildfire and become more friendly to the local cougar population.

In Utah, they worked to protect lions whose few government restrictions on trapping and hunting were recently revoked.

In Texas, they advocated for wild native cats, including the vanished Jaguar.

In southern California, an Ambassador worked as a docent for the Wallace Annenberg crossing, and several Ambassadors served as trail docents and guides, educating the public about safe recreation in cougar country, even in one case directing skits for children that include a mother cougar and her cubs.

One of our Ambassadors ran a marathon and used an illustration of a cougar that they made for their team jerseys!

Ambassadors wrote articles and letters, and one even staffed a table at an event to educate the public about cougars in Mississippi. One Ambassador, who is also a graduate student in ecology, submitted her final project on mountain lions, and is now writing curriculum for elementary students to understand both safety and the ecological importance of mountain lions. Another Ambassador has already volunteered to engage with receptive schools with which she’s built a relationship.

After the tragic loss of a young man to a mountain lion attack in El Dorado County in 2024, our Ambassador team stepped up to provide community education and support, and to volunteer to install deterrent devices.

When Avian Flu took the life of mountain lions in a sanctuary beloved by our Ambassador, she remained steadfast in her work advocating for this vulnerable and magnificent species.

Another Ambassador, who is an amazing wildlife photographer, learned that he had passed within 60 feet of a collared lion with his camera, without ever seeing the cat. Over and over, we confirm with our experiences that in most cases, wild mountain lions seek to avoid humans and coexist peacefully with us.

In 2025 we are beginning the year with wildfires in Southern California, where several of our team are located. The fires are displacing vast amounts of wildlife including mountain lions. A video of a mother lion and her cubs fleeing fire has been shared across the internet. In the wake of a displacement event like wildfire, more human/lion conflict is likely, and the Mountain Lion Foundation and our Coexistence Ambassadors will be there to support people with knowledge and tools so we can safely share this landscape.

Our next Coexistence Camp will be held near Seattle, Washington in the early summer, with both new and returning volunteers gathering to build community and receive in-depth training. If you would like to apply to join us, be on the lookout for information coming soon.