Elizabeth Bennett, Author at Mountain Lion Foundation

Watch the Recording: Mountain Lion Rescue in California

Living with Lions Webinar: Mountain Lion Rescue in California (September 18, 2024)

Dr. Alex Herman, Vice President of Veterinary Services, Oakland Zoo
Amy Gotliffe, Vice President of Conservation, Oakland Zoo
Dr. Deana Clifford, Senior Wildlife Veterinarian, California Department of Fish and Wildlife
Dr. T. Winston Vickers, Director and Lead Wildlife Veterinarian, California Mountain Lion Project, UC Davis

What is the state of mountain lion rescue in California? When orphaned cubs are discovered, what’s the process for securing them a safe and healthy future? Who are the state and local actors charged with coordinating a rescue? And what are the current expectations, challenges, and opportunities for ensuring that California mountain lions thrive in the wild and, when necessary, in captivity?

In this special 1-hour Living with Lions webinar, we heard from the amazing professionals who work together to rescue mountain lions across California.

The Panelists:

Dr. Alex Herman, Vice President of Veterinary Services, Oakland Zoo

Dr. Herman received her Bachelor of Science from the University of Minnesota (Mpls-St.Paul), her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from UC Davis, and graduated from the Veterinary Management Institute at Colorado State University, Fort Collins.

Prior to becoming Oakland Zoo’s full-time Vice President of Veterinary Services in September 2019, she spent fifteen years providing medical, surgical, and dental services to the Zoo in a part-time capacity. Her veterinary skills were invaluable to the California Condor Recovery team and all the animals at Oakland Zoo — from Amazon milky tree frogs to giraffes. At the same time, she worked for more than two decades to develop a full-service avian, exotics, wildlife, dog and cat practice in San Francisco.

Her goals in leading Oakland Zoo’s veterinary team are to maintain and constantly expand the most intentional, effective, high impact culture and evidence-based veterinary care for both the animals under the Zoo’s stewardship and those that comprise our conservation work.

Dr. Herman lives in Berkeley with her husband and son. She cherishes the Oakland Zoo and is honored to provide the highest level of care for our fascinating and amazing animals.

Amy Gotliffe, Vice President of Conservation, Oakland Zoo

Amy Gotliffe has a mission to connect human beings to nature, envisioning a planet where all species live in peaceful co-existence, which makes her a perfect fit for Oakland Zoo.

With certifications in humane education, nature-based leadership, conservation psychology, human-wildlife conflict resolution, nature interpretation and influencing conservation behavior change, Amy’s work at the Zoo focuses on reconnecting people with our sense of belonging to the natural world and better understanding our impact on it.

As VP of Conservation at Oakland Zoo, she coordinates events and projects to meet the conservation goals of the Zoo around the world and in the Bay Area. These efforts range from building a Conservation Speaker Series, to leading international conservation expeditions to producing awareness events to coordinating the Zoo’s on-site sustainability efforts. Amy drives massive and enthusiastic, inter-departmental efforts to conserve biodiversity around the globe and in our own backyards.

Dr. Deana Clifford, Senior Wildlife Veterinarian, California Department of Fish and Wildlife

Dr. Clifford is the lead non-game veterinarian at the California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) and a research scientist at the UC Davis Wildlife Health Center. She has expertise in epidemiologic study design, disease risk analysis and disease management of wildlife species. Deana has worked on the individual and population health of a range of non-game species including Island foxes, Amargosa voles, Pacific fishers, grey foxes, American pika, and others. She regularly works in the field participating in trapping, veterinary assessment, and performing epidemiologic studies. Additionally, she has considerable experience managing large projects with multiple collaborators in interfacing research, such as Envirovet and the Health for Animals and Livelihood Improvement Project in Tanzania.

Dr. T. Winston Vickers, Director, Lead Wildlife Veterinarian, California Mountain Lion Project

Dr. Vickers is a wildlife research veterinarian with the University of California-Davis Wildlife Health Center and the Institute for Wildlife Studies. He obtained his DVM at Oklahoma State University and practiced on large, small, and exotic species for over 20 years before returning to school to get his Master of Preventive Veterinary Medicine at UC Davis with a focus on wildlife disease and ecology. He has been studying mountain lions and other wildlife for 20 years and directs the UCD Wildlife Health Center’s mountain lion study. He collaborates extensively with other mountain lion researchers, NGO’s, and governmental agencies in the state and elsewhere in the West, and his studies of mountain lions address issues of mortality, connectivity, habitat use, genetics, disease, conservation, and reducing negative interactions with humans and livestock.

He also collaborates on studies involving other wildlife species studies, including bobcats, Channel Island foxes, Santa Cruz Island scrub jays and other avian species. He worked for many years with the Wildlife Health Center’s Oiled Wildlife Care Network on oil spill response, and is the author or a co-author of over 35 peer reviewed publications, one book chapter, and numerous white papers and reports to wildlife and other government agencies. He co-developed and directed a 9-part series of short educational documentaries about mountain lions, as well as a one hour film, that have been viewed nearly 1.8 million times and can be viewed here (https://www.camountainlions.com/). His work has been featured in numerous articles in the newspapers and in several books, and he has twice been named one of the 100 most influential individuals in Orange County, CA by the Orange County Register

Photography as Coexistence

Halloween is weeks away which means the holidays are right around the corner. What’s the best part about the holidays? The Mountain Lion Foundation Annual Calendar, of course!

This year’s calendar features incredible new images from some of our favorite wildlife conservation photographers including Sebastian Kennernecht’s stunning cover shot of a regal mother lion resting on a rock in Patagonia. We’re also excited about work from photographers new to the calendar like Alycia Renee, who captured a fleeting moment with a beautiful cat at dusk in the forests of Washington.

A mother lion rests on a rock in Patagonia — Cover image of mother lion in Patagonia by Sebastian Kennerknecht

A Washington mountain lion looks at the camera while crossing a log in the forest — A Washington lion courtesy of Alycia Renee

Photography, and the arts in general, are critical yet under appreciated components of wildlife advocacy, education, and ultimately, coexistence. Pictures, whether captured by camera trap or telescopic lens, provide us with a privileged glimpse into the lives of animals as they experience the world. Photography prompts empathy, and empathy is the foundation for tolerance, acceptance, and coexistence with both animals and people who are different from us.

For the elusive mountain lion especially, photography will be the only way that many of us will ever experience this wild cat. We are grateful for the photographers who have devoted their lives to sharing their experience of mountain lions with us and for using their art to help us all learn to thrive with wildlife.

Please consider making a donation to the Mountain Lion Foundation to support our advocacy, education, and coexistence programming to help save America’s Lion. Everyone who donates $35+ will receive a 2025 Mountain Lion Foundation Calendar.

Get the 2025 calendar

Sharon Negri, Mountain Lion Foundation Co-Founder, Returns to the Organization

The Mountain Lion Foundation team is delighted to welcome (back) Sharon Negri, the Foundation’s co-founder and first Executive Director. As Executive Director, Sharon helped lead a coalition to pass California Proposition 117 that banned trophy hunting of mountain lions and allocated $30 million a year for 30 years to critical wildlife habitat. To this day, California is the only state where the recreational hunting of mountain lions is illegal.

In her new capacity as part-time Director of Strategic initiatives and Partnerships, Sharon continues to direct WildFutures, where she provides consultation to government agencies and organizations, and develops essential tools and trainings to advance protections for mountain lions and other large carnivores.

“I am thrilled to work with such a dedicated and passionate team to enhance our efforts in protecting and conserving mountain lions.”

Among Sharon’s published works are Cougar Management Guidelines (2005); Cougar Ecology and Conservation (2009), with renowned cougar biologist Maurice Hornocker; and numerous reports and papers for foundations, agencies, and conservation organizations. She produced the films The Secret Life of Mountain Lions (2016) and La vida secreta de los pumas (2017), and she co-produced the award-winning film On Nature’s Terms (2001) and television public service announcements on mountain lion and bear awareness and safety.

We are excited that Sharon has returned to the organization to help us expand our advocacy, education, and coexistence programming for mountain lions and those living in lion country across the country.

Getting to Know Tom Forks, a Mountain Lion Advocate in Mississippi

Tom Forks is a Mountain Lion Foundation Coexistence Ambassador who lives in Mississippi, a state without a breeding population of cougars. We recently sat down with him to ask about sentiment towards mountain lions in eastern states and what makes eastern advocates some of the strongest voices for mountain lions.

Q: Mountain lions were extirpated from Mississippi more than a century ago. While dispersing males might occasionally walk through your state, cougars haven’t called Mississippi home for quite a while. What got you interested in mountain lions?

A: My father was a career Army officer and was often deployed. To pass the time and keep me out of trouble, my sister Cathy encouraged reading which led to a love of learning. My mom also encouraged my reading and always let me pick 5 or 6 books from the scholastic book club. I can still remember how excited I was to peruse the titles offered for sale. During my high school days, I discovered wonderful library books by Earnest Hemingway, Theodore Roosevelt, Jane Goodall and other authors and a series of books on hunting in Africa by Peter Hathaway Capstick which had a huge impact on my future education. I eagerly read each of his works, which led me to dream of becoming a game warden in Africa working with the “Big Cats.”

So, my interest in conservation in general and felines specifically started in high school. As life unfolded, I eventually studied biology in college, married my wife, and raised my son who is now grown with his own family. Although I still work, I now have more time to devote to my lifelong interests. Not too many years ago, on a camping trip to South Texas I stopped at a small grocery store on Highway 90 in southwest Texas to purchase soft drinks and ice. Pinned on the walls throughout the store were six or seven different photographs of a man posed with a lion he had shot at the behest of local ranchers near Big Bend, Texas.

When discussing the photographs with the proprietor, he nonchalantly said “that’s nothing.” He relayed that his brother had killed more than 140 lions over the preceding 10 years. That was a pivotal moment in my interest in mountain lion conservation! How a lion population with relatively low fecundity and high kitten mortality could sustain such a slaughter was beyond my comprehension. I think of that conversation quite frequently with great sadness. A few years ago, I learned of the Mountain Lion Foundation, and I proudly support their mission and mountain lion conservation. I am very proud to be a Mountain Lion Foundation Coexistence Ambassador.

Q: It would be ecologically beneficial for mountain lions to return to the eastern part of the United States. Do you think that your fellow Mississippians would welcome that return?

A: Mississippi is predominantly a rural state. We have 6 National Forests and over 19,250,000 acres (about the area of South Carolina) of forested land spread between public and private land owners. Our human population is approximately 2.9 million. We have over 1.75 million whitetail deer in Mississippi: the highest number of whitetail deer per acre in the country and second only to Texas in total number of white tail deer.

At my recent tabling event in Jackson, Mississippi I was very encouraged by the positive comments I received regarding the Mountain Lion Foundation. People were very supportive of the Mountain Lion Foundation’s mission. The response I received from attendees, albeit unscientific, certainly indicates a very healthy interest in mountain lions and I have no doubt most Mississippians would welcome their presence and would encourage the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks to attempt to establish a breeding population of lions in Mississippi. As an aside, we now have, after years of absence, a population of about 200 black bears according to the Mississippi Department of Fisheries, Wildlife and Parks. The bears are strictly protected. We can do the same for lions.

Q: You table events in Mississippi for the Mountain Lion Foundation. What are the most common questions that people ask you as a cougar representative?

A: Do we have mountain lions here in Mississippi, and what is the purpose of the Mountain Lion Foundation?

Q: Earlier this summer (2024), Washington implemented new science-based rules to increase protections for their cougars. Colorado is poised to ban mountain lion trophy hunting in November. On the other hand, Utah continues to strip protections for their wild cats. And while Texas finally made canned hunts illegal this year, sport hunting of cougars remains unregulated. As someone who wants mountain lions to return to his state, what do you think about these legislative initiatives?

A: I am thrilled that Colorado appears to be poised to ban the trophy hunting of cougars. I’m hoping that other states will take notice and do likewise. I am of the opinion that all states should ban trophy hunting of mountain lions. My view is that there should be a moratorium on all hunting until adequate studies have been published in peer reviewed journals detailing population dynamics to include: cat density, reproduction rates, survival numbers to reproductive status, numbers killed by rodenticides, automobile strikes, wolves, coyotes, other carnivores, disease and illness, and legal and/or illegal hunting by humans. In those states that adequately manage their lion populations and allow hunting: hunting with dogs is just plain unsportsmanlike and should not be allowed.

Q: Have you seen a mountain lion in the wild? What was that experience like?

A. Yes, I have had the rare pleasure of seeing a mountain lion in the wild. One very early morning (approximately 0200) while returning to San Antonio, Texas from a camping trip near Harlingen, Texas I saw a mountain lion walking into a field from the right side of the road. Our headlights illuminated the cat for about 5-6 seconds before it vanished but what an incredible sight. I’m grateful to have had one I’ll never forget.

Q: Do you advocate for other wildlife that currently call Mississippi?

A: In addition to the Mountain Lion Foundation, I am a member of the Wildlife Society, Panthera, The Puma Fund, the Shark Research Institute, the Sea Turtle Preservation Society, Caretta Research Project, Ocean Conservancy, Coastal Conservation Association, The Rattlesnake Conservancy, The Asclepius Foundation and others. I am interested in these organizations, and I promote conservation and tolerance. I try to educate my fellow Mississippians about how important mountain lions, bobcats, sharks, snakes, turtles, etc., are to a healthy ecosystem. One of my very great concerns here in Mississippi is the use of rodenticides and their detrimental effects on pets and wildlife. I am also very concerned about the status of lynx in Mississippi, and I’m interested in an in-depth study of bobcat population dynamics.

Q: What advice would you give to other lion advocates living in states without breeding populations? What can people do right now to support the return of wild cats in their part of the country?

A: In those states without breeding populations of mountain lions I would suggest to advocate for the return of breeding populations to determine if:

there is an interest in the populace to reintroduce lions
the state has suitable habitat with wilderness corridors for dispersal
the state has the economic means to build wildlife bridges to cross busy highways to mitigate injuries and lion deaths from car collisions
the state has a suitable prey population for the lions to subsist on
the state legislature will work with you to help reintroduce lions to your state
the state’s wildlife agency is interested in helping you bring back lions.

In summary, the most effectual way to reintroduce lions in areas where they were extirpated is via science-based education and research, and a lot of hard work, patience, tolerance of opposing views and perseverance. Don’t give up, our lions need your help.

To Coexist with Mountain Lions, We Must Learn Lessons from Abroad

By Gown Batist, Coexistence Programs Manager

In 1980, near Cannich, Scotland, a farmer caught a mountain lion — a North American Puma concolor — in a wildlife cage trap that was baited with mutton.

Sightings of a huge tawny cat in the area dated back to the mid-70s, but the puma, once caught, was revealed to be both familiar with humans and rather plump. In fact, she was obese and very tame and was likely someone’s former pet. Her tameness and fussy nature (she would not eat unprepared meat) led many to conclude that she wasn’t the culprit behind repeated livestock killings in the area.

The Scots named the mountain lion Felicity and moved her to Highland Wildlife Park, where she lived out her days before dying at an extremely old age.

The discovery of Felicity, and the realization that she was not killing the Cannich ranchers’ livestock, convinced the community that there must be more lions on the moors. To this day, Scottish tabloids are full of mountain lion sightings, often accompanied by photographic “evidence” of a domestic house cat that looks strangely out of scale. (We get those pictures and home video camera footage here in America too.)

Scotland is now an ecosystem without apex carnivores. The country’s last big cat, the lynx, went extinct during the Medieval period. But there seems to be a longing for the return of a large, majestic cat on the landscape welling up in the public consciousness.

On the other hand, in other parts of the world, like Africa and eastern Europe, farmers and ranchers have lived alongside big cats for Millenia, including tigers, African lions, leopards and cheetahs (in addition to wild dogs and hyenas).

By comparison, mainstream ranching culture in the Unites States is still very young, and still very mired with colonialist sensibilities about wildlife. When the British colonized Ireland, Scotland and Wales, they systematically killed wolves, bear and lynx. The same pattern repeated in the Americas. Beyond western Europe, however, there are deep cultural memories about how to successfully coexist.

Eastern European pastoralism, especially night penning and livestock guardian dog training, is a constant source of inspiration in my work as a sheep rancher in northern California, and some of the best global experts in my research are in African countries like Botswana and Namibia. Fortunately, international coexistence tools to keep livestock and mountain lions safe are beginning to enter the conversation for American ranchers.

High night pens, called Boma or Krals depending on the country, keep livestock safe at night. Ranchers are adapting their programs to implement livestock guardian dogs and innovative wildlife friendly fences that allow small animals to pass through. To highlight some of this important work, the Mountain Lion Foundation recently hosted a webinar exploring the successes and challenges of protecting one of the mountain lion’s closest cousins, the cheetah.

Next month (October 2024), the 2024 International Wildlife Coexistence Conference will take place in Turin, Italy, featuring speakers from all around the world sharing their wisdom, challenges and innovations. I was honored to have a small role in the planning efforts for this conference, and I’ll be attending virtually. I’m especially excited to bring fresh insights and emerging research back to ranchers and farmers here in North America to keep more cougars safe and thriving in the wild.

The Impact of Wildfire and Wildfire Management on Mountain Lions

By Paige Munson, Science and Policy Coordinator

Wildfires in the United States spark concern for the future of wildlife including mountain lions. To understand how fire will impact mountain lions, we need to understand how we got to our current situation, and why not all fires are the same.

History of fire suppression in North America

With the growing frequency of these fires, many researchers have focused their work on understanding why there are more fires now. The answer is multi-faceted, and it begins centuries ago when the United States began to seize land from indigenous communities. Many tribes across the US and Canada utilized controlled burns to steward the land. This tradition had many practical benefits and contributed to the “pristine wilderness” that was “untrammeled by man,” praised by the likes of John Muir and his contemporaries.

However, in reality, the land had never been pristine, and man had “trammeled” it for thousands of years in the form of controlled burns to keep forests healthy. To learn more about indigenous fire practices, listen to this episode of the Ologies podcast, hosted by Alie Ward, with special guest Dr. Amy Christianson.

When the United States government first took charge of land management, controlled burns ceased in most forests. After a series of vast wildfires across the West at the beginning of the 20th century, managers decided that complete fire suppression was the only acceptable policy. Federal agencies and the timber industry viewed fires as lost revenue and even a loss for war efforts throughout the 20th century. Thus began a regime of fire suppression that has persisted for more than a century.

A look at historic fire prevention posters shed some light on the attitudes around fire in the United States and make us all grateful for their successor, Smokey Bear.

Fire prevention poster from 1926 — 1926 Fire Prevention Poster courtesy of https://wildfiretoday.com/2015/02/12/1926-fire-prevention-poster/

Controlled Burns

Controlled burns serve a variety of purposes, but one of them is to help prevent large, devastating canopy fires. Canopy fires, aka crown fires, are the most dangerous type of fire because they spread rapidly jumping from tree crown to tree crown. One of the greatest losses in wildfire is the death of large, old trees, which are more likely to die in canopy fires.

Controlled burns help reduce the amount of fuel available to burn. If a wildfire starts, reduced fuel loads can mean the fires do not grow as large because the forest undergrowth has been thinned, allowing for more space between the understory and canopy. This gap can help small understory fires from reaching the canopy of older trees.

Stand of trees recently burned. A California forest (not subject to a controlled burn) after a wildfire. Image courtesy of Paige Munson

A forest that has undergone a controlled burn will recover in a way that promotes forest health and recovery more quickly. On the other hand, when an “overstocked” forest experiences a wildfire that results in large amounts of tree mortality, it will take decades or possibly even centuries for the forest to contain old growth trees again. What was once a dense canopy of old growth will more likely convert to a shrub- or grass-dominated landscape.

Fortunately, federal and state organizations have largely come around to controlled burns, and there is a wider acknowledgement that this indigenous tactic for land stewardship is an essential tool for land management. However, after a century of fire suppression policies and new fire challenges to overcome, there is still a lot of work to be done.

Climate Change

Climate change continues to create hotter drier landscapes that are more likely to burn hotter with larger wildfire patch sizes. Climate change is also lengthening the fire season so that conditions remain hot and dry. Additionally, prescribed burns can only be done in specific conditions where temperatures are low enough, humidity is high enough, and winds are unlikely to exacerbate the burn. As climate change reduces the time that agencies can manage controlled burns, it makes it more difficult for managers to perform these prescribed burns and prevent fires in the future, which may require machine and manual removal of fuel.

The region for fire prone areas is also expanding. As more regions become drier and warmer, they will be prone to fire regime changes (a fire’s pattern, frequency, and intensity) into landscapes that may be less adapted to fire.

Human-caused fire

Without human intervention fires typically only start from lightning or volcanic activity. Most fires are started by people, whether it is a campfire gone wrong, a hot car over dry grass, a cigarette gone astray, or fallen lines from a utility company — humans are the cause of these fires. Humans have a long history of accidentally or purposely setting things on fire, and that is unlikely to change. By using active forest management techniques, we can work to get ahead of the fires we will continue to set so that there are more little fires than massively destructive ones.

Mountain lions and fire

Mountain lions will be impacted differently depending on whether the fire is a management tool (i.e., controlled burn) or an unintended wildfire. The landscape where the fire occurs will also dictate its impact on the species around it. For example, certain habitat types such as chaparral are prone to vegetation conversion, where the landscape is often converted to grasslands. Conifer forests are more resilient to fire, but the large destructive canopy fires that kill all trees in an area can result in conversion to grasslands or shrubland habitat. These converted grassland habitats are also likely to be inhabited by an influx of invasive species. The branch of ecology focusing on how animals respond to wildfires is still progressing, as there is such a diversity of fire circumstances in differing vegetation communities to assess.

Mule deer have been shown to avoid burned areas in the first years after a fire but prefer the burned habitat afterward, as vegetation starts to recover. This is likely to occur when the fire promotes shrublands, which are critical to mule deer success. In a conifer forest, dense layers of saplings in the understory can crowd out shrubs and forage that are vital to mule deer. Once this is removed, shrubs are likely to better recover, creating more ideal forage for mule deer.

National Park Service (NPS) collaring has allowed for research into mountain lion behavior immediately after the Woolsey fire of 2018. This population of mountain lions faces unique threats and pressure due to habitat fragmentation via human roads and urban areas. Researchers found that this fire reduced the quality of habitat available to both ungulates and mountain lions. For mountain lions the reduction in habitat quality likely stems from greater prey scarcity and lack of cover to ambush prey.

In these conditions mountain lions began exhibiting more risky behaviors, such as crossing roads more frequently and coming closer to humans. Mountain lions also began traveling greater distances and thus, more frequently overlapped ranges with other mountain lions. This increased movement may signal that the lions needed to travel more to find food. By increasing their range overlap, the lions also increased their likelihood of conflict with other lions.

Thesis research on mountain lion habitat selection after the Woolsey fire found that mountain lions utilized burned areas soon after the fire, and particularly selected for areas where there were unburned patches, or at the edge of a burned area. The thesis author suspected this afforded increased hunting opportunities. However, the author did not believe this to offset the negative impacts of increased risk and food scarcity immediately after the fire. Their work is consistent with other findings showing that habitat heterogeneity is selected among large mammals post-fire.

For more information on how climate change will impact mountain lions, including some thoughts on how they will respond to more frequent and more intense fires, see also this webinar from the Mountain Lion Foundation, featuring lion researcher Dr. David Stoner.

The impacts of wildfire and controlled burns on mountain lions have important conservation implications for the species. Fire has the potential to be both a tool in the conservation of mule deer and mountain lions, and a threat to their populations as well.

Press Release: WA wildlife officials adopt science-based reforms to cougar hunting

In an 8-1 vote on Friday, July 19, the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission adopted new rules to prevent the overhunting of cougars. The rule change is the final result of a petition filed in December 2023 by the Mountain Lion Foundation, Washington Wildlife First, and partners from national and statewide groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity, the Humane Society of the United States, Predator Defense, WildFutures, Coexisting with Cougars in Klickitat County (WA), and the Kettle Range (WA) Conservation Group.

“Washington values our cougars, and these rules will protect them from overhunting,” said Josh Rosenau, Director of Policy and Advocacy for the Mountain Lion Foundation. “Most excitingly, these rules will put hunters, conservationists, and the Department of Fish and Wildlife on the same side in efforts to promote nonlethal responses to conflict and reduce needless deaths of cougars.”

The new rules include a cap on all sources of human-caused cougar deaths. Humans are the largest single cause of cougar mortality, with lethal responses by law enforcement being a leading cause of cougar deaths, especially in certain areas of Washington. Because those deaths will now count towards the quotas that trigger the closing of hunting areas, hunters now have an incentive to help prevent these “conflict” deaths. On average, humans in Washington cause the deaths of approximately 300 cougars per year.

This vote enacts provisions recommended in the state’s Game Management Plan, which has been in effect since 2011. Those changes had been suggested based on decades of science by the the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s field biologists and research partners at the state’s universities. In the nine months since the petition was filed, department scientists and external researchers have presented additional science to the Commission, reinforcing the key findings behind those recommendations. A group of 50 independent researchers sent a letter to the Commission in December, endorsing the science underlying these changes.

These rules set hunting limits based on those decades of research, using high quality estimates of the density of cougars in each of the hunting regions and setting an upper limit on all sources of human-caused deaths at 13% of that estimated population of cougars. Previous rules focused on deaths from hunting, not cougars killed in response to conflict with livestock, and did not fully account for deaths of subadults — younger cougars who have left their mothers to seek independent territories. The new rules also align the cougar hunting season with the end date of annual hunting licenses, and they require immediate cessation of hunting in areas where deaths exceed those caps.

The cap at 13% of a cougar population was set based on extensive research which has shown that to be the average rate at which cougar populations in Washington grow if they aren’t hunted at all. By setting that cap, the Commission hopes to prevent hunting from causing damage to local populations. Research discussed in the petition and reiterated in scientific testimony shows that excessive killing could cause a counterintuitive increase in conflicts. A limited exception to that cap allows a brief hunting season in areas where conflict mortality between April and September would already exceed the 13% limit.

“We are grateful that the Commissioners listened carefully to scientists inside and outside the Department and acted on the best available science available to them,” adds Rosenau. “This new rule is a win for cougars, a win for hunters, a win for Washington’s wilderness, and a win for science-based policymaking.”

The new rules will take effect immediately, in time for hunters and the agency to prepare for the beginning of the scheduled 2024-2025 cougar season on September 1.

What Will Happen if Colorado Votes to Ban Mountain Lion Trophy Hunting in November?

Story by Paige Munson, Science and Policy Coordinator

Feature image by Denise Peterson and Explore Wild Media

Wild cats—specifically mountain lions, bobcats, and lynx—are the heart of a Colorado voter-led initiative (currently known as Proposition 91), that would ban the trophy hunting of mountain lions and the fur trapping of bobcats in the state. These cats have been historically maligned, bountied, and dismissed as dispensable actors in the Colorado ecosystem. Still today, mountain lions are sport hunted by the hundreds each year, and an unlimited number of bobcats are trapped for their spotted pelts. The demand for these pelts is especially high, as they are one of the only spotted cat pelts that are legal to sell in the fur market.

The passing of the ballot measure to protect wild cats in Colorado would usher in a new era of protections for feline carnivores in the state. Here’s what the measure (to be given a formal proposition number in September by the state) would mean for wild cats, livestock owners, hunters, Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW), and neighboring states.

What passing the measure would mean for cats

At an individual level, Colorado’s wild cats will be protected from hunting. Individual kittens will be less likely to have their mothers killed by hunters and therefore will have a far greater likelihood of living a longer life. From the wildlife management perspective, individual cougars are not the main consideration – cougar populations are.

Mountain lions did not evolve as heavily hunted animals. Kittens, or the sick, may be vulnerable to predation; but overall, being killed and eaten is not a part of the cougar’s evolutionary history. For this reason, when people hunt mountain lions, the death toll is a lot higher than populations would normally experience. This high amount of mortality can erode social stability, age structures, sex ratios, and is linked with increased conflicts with people. By eliminating this additional human caused-mortality, cougar mortality levels will be lower across the population, mountain lion social systems will be more stable, the population will have older individuals, and there will be a more even ratio between males and females.

The measure would dramatically decrease human-caused deaths for mountain lions. Human-caused death would still likely to be the number one cause of death for mountain lions in Colorado, as it is in most regions, even those that ban mountain lion hunting. Most of these deaths come from vehicle collisions, depredation kills, public safety kills, and poaching. Banning mountain lion hunting won’t solve all the human-created problems that cougars face, but it will have an incredible impact, nonetheless.

Some people claim that without hunting mountain lions, they will overpopulate, decimate deer herds, and lose their fear of people. Every piece of evidence we have indicates that habitat, prey availability, and mountain lion social structure, limits lion populations. Lions require no levels of hunting; remember, as apex carnivores, cougars didn’t evolve to be hunted. On the other hand, deer did evolve as a hunted species, with predators including humans, mountain lions, wolves, and other now-extinct species. This long evolutionary history makes deer populations not only tolerant to predation from mountain lions, but also dependent on that predation to prevent overpopulation. Mountain lion attacks do not increase in the absence of hunting, and multiple research projects have correlated more hunting with more human-lion conflicts.

A look to California

Aside from ecological theory, we can also look to California, the only American state that has banned mountain lion hunting. (In Florida, the ESA protects the small population of Florida panthers.) California Governor Ronald Reagan signed a mountain lion hunting moratorium in 1972, and citizens officially banned lion hunting in 1990. For 50 years, we have seen the effects of not hunting mountain lions. Cougars have not overpopulated. Moreover, due to habitat fragmentation, southern California lions are imperiled enough to be under endangered species consideration. Deer have persisted with mountain lion predation, a changing climate, habitat loss, and human hunting. There is no sign that deer populations are in danger due to mountain lion populations that are not “managed” through hunting.

Mountain lions in California are most certainly still impacted by humans, altering much of their behavior to avoid us. The idea that hunting mountain lions could teach them to fear us is also a myth. A dead mountain lion will not be able to tell the living that they should be afraid of humans. Mountain lions learn to fear humans from adverse experiences with humans and from their mother’s adverse experiences with humans. One study quantified this effect by comparing the rates of mountain lion attacks on people, depredation rates, and deer populations. All found that California either had the same levels or less than other states that allowed mountain lion hunting.

What passing the measure would mean for livestock owners

Mountain lions rarely prey upon domestic livestock and pets. When they do, it is typically small hoof stock, sheep or goats, and domestic dogs. They rarely prey upon cattle and if they do, it is generally a calf. However, even that is rare because the threat of other adult cattle typically deters this predation. While this type of predation is rare, investigators often misidentify a mountain lion as the offender.

Hunting mountain lions recreationally has never been a good means for reducing depredations. Recreational hunting does not target mountain lions that prey on livestock. To use an analogy, it is like imprisoning fifty random people and expecting crime to decrease. Mounting research has also correlated increased hunting and killing of lions with increased depredation events in subsequent years. Current evidence supports using nonlethal methods such as deterrents to prevent depredations, as opposed to killing carnivores.

While research does not support mountain lion hunting to reduce conflict, wildlife agencies often do not dispel the myth. Moreover, state agencies tend to hunt more cats in response to concerns from livestock owners. There is a full circle effect whereby the false belief that hunting will help reduce conflicts is reinforced. If Prop 91 passes, livestock owners can expect to see the same levels of conflict with wildlife and possibly even a reduction.

What passing the measure would mean for hunters

Most hunters are not interested in hunting mountain lions and prefer species such as deer or turkey. Hunting mountain lions is also one of the forms of hunting the public least approves of, right up there with the unpopular hunting of elephants and African lions. With mounting scientific evidence that recreational hunting of mountain lions is ecologically harmful, many hunters oppose the practice and support the ballot measure. For the minority of hunters who hunt mountain lions, the impacts of Prop 91 will be a loss. Some people, most from outside Colorado, pay a guide thousands of dollars to kill a mountain lion. These outfitters will experience financial loss, and their customers will not get the experience they were willing to pay for.

Some hunting groups feel that the measure is an attack on hunting writ large instead of a targeted attempt to conserve wild cats (and all wildlife that depend on a stable ecosystem with healthy and genetically-diverse populations of apex carnivores). These hunters are under the false impression that the passing of Prop 91 means that other forms of recreational hunting such as deer hunting will be threatened next. Unfortunately, many wildlife agencies fail to dispel this misinformation in the hunting community. A look at California should dispel this myth.

What passing the measure would mean for Colorado Parks and Wildlife

Currently Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) is responsible for managing mountain lion populations through regulated hunting. Historically, they have approached management of mountain lions by aiming to repress the population. CPW is working to move management away from population repression to lowering hunting levels with hopes of maintaining stable populations.

CPW currently charges sixty dollars for residents to hunt mountain lions and 500 dollars for non-residents to hunt mountain lions, with an average of 2,500 licenses sold every year. If Proposition 91 passes, that would mean the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees for the state. However, funds will also be saved as staff will not have to manage mountain lion hunting.

Recreational hunting of mountain lions is neither management nor conservation, it is a recreational activity. There are rare cases such as with imperiled bighorn sheep herds where removing mountain lions from the area might help the herd survive. This legislation would still allow for such activities.

CPW staff will continue to respond to depredation instances, issue depredation permits, and hopefully engage in mountain lion research to monitor the population.

What passing the measure would mean for neighboring states

A tag for hunting a mountain lion is generally cheap in most states, but outfitters can charge thousands of dollars to guide someone on a hunt to kill a mountain lion. Outfitters in Colorado will no longer be able to offer these guided hunts, and their customers will no longer be able to hunt mountain lions. As a result, these customers may look to neighboring states for an opportunity to hunt mountain lions. This may lead to states that don’t normally fill their quotas, doing so and increasing the demand for mountain lion hunting. As a result, managers may meet this demand by raising quotas for lions.

Colorado has been hunting at high enough levels that much of the cougar population is likely a “sink” population, meaning that it relies on immigration from nearby populations with low levels of mortality to maintain the population. If Colorado prohibits mountain lion hunting, it may become a “source” population for neighboring states where populations are more heavily hunted. The measure may change the mountain lion hunting market in neighboring states and slightly alter the home origin of some of their cats, but neighboring states should not expect to see any negative ecological effects.

Big picture

Mountain lions are ecosystem engineers that help support their natural areas through promoting biodiversity, including even soil health. As we move forward in a world of declining biodiversity, habitat loss, and climate change, efforts such as the Colorado ballot measure to protect wild cats and conserve species in closer accordance with their role in the ecological system are a step in the right direction.

How the Mountain Lion Foundation is Supporting the El Dorado County Community

In late March, the Mountain Lion Foundation wrote to our membership to express grief and offer our hearts to the Brooks family. Taylen Brooks and his brother Wyatt had been attacked by a mountain lion in El Dorado County, California. Taylen died from his injuries, Wyatt was badly hurt, and the cougar was shot and killed by CDFW officers later that day.

In our letter, we wrote about the exceeding rarity of cougar attacks on people – 29 fatal attacks in the United States since 1900 – but emphasized that statistical unlikelihood doesn’t make the trauma of those deaths any less real. We said:

“In the West, we live alongside wildlife like mountain lions, wolves, coyotes, bears, and other animals. At the Mountain Lion Foundation, it is our hope and purpose to ensure that these types of traumatic encounters will be as rare as possible.”

Since March, we have been working proactively in El Dorado County and with surrounding communities to do precisely this: to minimize future cougar conflict with people, pets, and livestock through education about coexisting safely and peacefully with these cats.

Over the past five months, we’ve supported community members, government officials, and reporters seeking more information about why the attack happened and about California cougars in general. Our staff, volunteers, and board members have corresponded with countless individuals who want to know more about how to live safely in mountain lion country. In every conversation, we’ve shared resources about cougar biology and ecology including our Essential Guide to Recent Scientific Research about Mountain Lions. The Essential Guide provides straightforward, plain-language answers to some of the most asked questions about mountain lions, backed up by extensive citations from recent scientific research.

We’ve also been working on the ground in and around El Dorado County and neighboring Amador County to build relationships with community members and offer support to those in the ranching community. In May, Gowan Batist, Coexistence Programs Manager, and Chelsea Robinson, Membership Manager, gave a public presentation about cougar biology and behavior to a packed room in Cool, California, 12 miles west of Georgetown. Later that month, Gowan hosted a Zoom meeting with ranchers from Amador and El Dorado counties. The community had requested advice on keeping their livestock safe from cougars and coyotes through non-lethal deterrents like low-cost fencing, economical livestock pens, sonic alarms, flashing lights, and livestock guardian dogs.

In June, Robin Parks, our California Field Representative and Coexistence Ambassador, presented a talk to the Placerville community at the El Dorado County Library. With a background in law enforcement investigation, Robin presented information about coexisting with mountain lions as well as how to support state agencies so that people and cougars stay safe when there are reports of a conflict. Robin’s talk in June has had ripple effects in El Dorado County, and we’re encouraged by the new relationships that we’ve built with residents and elected officials in the community.

In September, Brent Lyles, our Executive Director, will present a public talk in partnership with Tri County Wildlife Care in neighboring Amador County, where community concern is also running high. We also hope to connect with El Dorado County law enforcement leaders to have productive conversations about how to distribute accurate, effective, science-based information to the public about coexisting with wildlife in mountain lion country.

The Mountain Lion Foundation continues to mourn with the El Dorado County community following the tragic loss of life this March. As we all process this heartbreaking event, our focus remains on supporting efforts to minimize future human-wildlife conflicts. We believe that thoughtful, informed discussions about coexisting safely with wildlife are essential for our shared well-being. When appropriate, we encourage our members to contribute to these delicate conversations by sharing factual, scientific information, always with the utmost empathy and respect for those affected by this tragedy.

Behind the Scenes at Coexistence Camp 2024

The mission of the Mountain Lion Foundation is to ensure that America’s lion survives and flourishes in the wild. Our programs are designed to raise awareness about the importance of mountain lions and their roles in healthy ecosystems, advocate for policies that protect mountain lions, and support coexistence with these incredible carnivores.

A primary component of our coexistence programming is the Coexistence Ambassadors program, which trains people from around the country to be proactive ambassadors for human-lion coexistence in their own communities.

Every year, Coexistence Ambassadors receive hands-on training at Coexistence Camp, a weekend workshop on a regenerative sheep ranch in Mendocino County, California that is a successful model for small-scale ranching in lion country. At camp, Ambassadors learn:

The basics of mountain lion biology and behavior
How to present information to the public, including tabling at a public event and giving a community talk
Indigenous perspectives on coexistence
Tips on responding to urgent requests from livestock owners that are respectful and productive
Incident assessments, including wildlife tracking and “barnyard CSI” to determine what kind of animal may have been responsible for livestock losses
Trends and commonalities in how mountain lions are managed by state wildlife agencies across the country
Understanding coexistence tools in the field, like electric fences, deterrent devices and livestock guardian dogs

Coexistence Camp 2024 just happened! Here’s a sneak peek into the incredible weekend: