Author: Elizabeth Bennett

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.
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:

Tatum from Xa Kako Dile opens camp with a Pomo prayer. Photo by Chasity Smith.
Gowan Batist, Coexistence Programs Manager, introduces the Saturday program near the olive grove. Photo by Elizabeth Bennett.
Gowan gives a tour of the Herbalists without Borders herb garden. Photo by Elizabeth Bennett.
Hunter and little Griffin check in with the sheep flock while the group learns about deterrent fencing for rotation grazing. Photo by Chasity Smith.
Coexistence Ambassador Cody Hess visits with Cookie the sheep. Photo by Elizabeth Bennett.
Paige Munson, Mountain Lion Foundation Science and Policy Coordinator, and Robin Parks, California Field Representative, get to know Chego the Livestock Guardian Dog. Photo by Elizabeth Bennett.
Gowan presents on how to identify a mountain lion deer kill. Brambles the cat assists. Photo by Elizabeth Bennett.
Robin talks about the Habitat Conservation Fund (HCF) in California, which was recently safeguarded from state budget cuts. The HCF was established in 1990 by Prop 117 which also banned mountain lion hunting. California was the first, and remains the only, state where it is illegal to hunt cougars for sport. Photo by Chasity Smith.
Brent Lyles, Mountain Lion Foundation Executive Director, films a short video about the importance of coexistence programming. Photo by Elizabeth Bennett.
Gowan leads a tour of a predator-proof poultry set-up. Photo by Elizabeth Bennett.
Hunter leads the group on a wildlife tracking hike to the beach. We saw signs of bobcat, mountain lion, black bear, grey fox, squirrel, gopher, shrew, osprey, and river otter. Photo by Chasity Smith.
Beginning of wildlife tracking hike. Photo by Elizabeth Bennett.
Spectacular end of wildlife tracking hike and Coexistence Camp 2024! Photo by Elizabeth Bennett.

The Mountain Lion Foundation Goes to Work in Colorado

By Paige Munson, Science and Policy Coordinator

July 1, 2024

In June, Mountain Lion Foundation staff Brent Lyles, Josh Rosenau, and Paige Munson were busy in Colorado, working to support mountain lions and communities living in lion country. We approached the work with the Foundation’s three main program areas in mind: education, advocacy, and coexistence.  

Education 

Paige, Josh, and Brent at the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Mammalogists

We were excited to attend the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Mammalogists. Here, we listened to the findings of ongoing research on mountain lions, species interactions, conservation biology, wildlife management, and more. Attending these conferences and talking with experts in the field helps our staff stay up to date with the latest research, in and out of print. We also set up an information table in the conference’s exhibit hall; this brought us more opportunities to connect with the conference attendees (working biologists from across the country), and it allowed us to offer a variety of resources about peaceful coexistence with mountain lions in Colorado and beyond.  

Brent presenting to a packed room at the Boulder Public Library. Photo by Paige.

After three days of learning, discussion, and awe-inspiring stories, we took on the role of educator at the Boulder Public Library. Here we hosted a crowd of eager community members looking to learn more about the mountain lions with which they share their state. Brent shared the story of the young male mountain lion who went on the longest known dispersal journey of any mammal. Afterwards, Brent explained the history of mountain lion hunting in Colorado and the current challenges the species faces in the state, including overhunting, roads, development, policy decisions, and human-wildlife conflict.  

Many members of the audience came to the presentation with insightful questions regarding mountain lion biology, how humans and mountain lions interact, and what we can all do to help them. We aimed to answer these questions while empowering the audience to be communicators themselves about the oft misunderstood mountain lion.  

Advocacy 

Josh collecting signatures in Boulder. Photo by Brent.

The CATs Campaign 

We also advocated on behalf of Colorado’s lions in two ways. The first was through the Mountain Lion Foundation’s support of the Cats Aren’t Trophies (CATs) campaign,a citizen-led effort to put Proposition 91 on the ballot this fall in Colorado. If passed, Prop 91 would prohibit the trophy hunting of mountain lions and end the hunting of trapping of bobcats in the state. This would be an historic achievement for Colorado, making it only the second state to fully protect mountain lions in perpetuity at the state level — the first was California, over 30 years ago.  The measure would also protect the endangered lynx, in hopes that the species will one day recover in Colorado and be free from hunting and trapping pressure as well.   

The Mountain Lion Foundation supports the ability of voters to decide whether mountain lions can be hunted in their state, and we hope that, with enough signatures now, and then enough votes in November, Coloradans will permanently protect their wild cats this fall.  

So, the Mountain Lion Foundation’s staff joined the many, many volunteer signature gatherers from across Colorado, collecting signatures outside of grocery stores, at local trailheads, at lunch with friends — anywhere we could think of!  

Testifying to the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission  

Staff attended a Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission meeting in picturesque Winter Park to speak to the Commission about what to expect if Prop 91 passes and prohibits mountain lion hunting in Colorado, and about their proposed East Slope Mountain Lion Management Plan.  

Executive Director, Brent Lyles, spoke to the commission and summarized some of the existing science regarding mountain lions and their prey species. The consensus is that, in almost every case, “predator control” — killing carnivores — will not benefit ungulates in the long term. Director of Policy and Advocacy, Josh Rosenau, detailed the status of mountain lions, ungulates, and people in California, the only state to have banned mountain lion hunting in the West. After decades without mountain lion hunting, ungulate herds have not suffered, the rates of conflicts with humans are no worse and are often better than in other states with hunting, and the mountain lions have not overpopulated. Lastly, Science and Policy Coordinator, Paige Munson, spoke to the Commission about their draft East Slope Mountain Lion Management Plan. Some of the current management plans for units in Colorado are over twenty years old and lack contemporary science as a basis. The East Slope plan integrates this new evidence and corrects old management structures to be better aligned with other western states. She praised the positive changes, while suggesting further changes to improve it even more.  

We provided this scope of comments because our organization believes that mountain lion hunting is unnecessary, either ecologically or to help humans. The only reason to hunt mountain lions is to provide an opportunity to hunt mountain lions. Thus, we believe the voters of Colorado should have the right to decide whether lions are hunted in their state. And in those states where lions are hunted, it is critical that those states’ management plans reflect science and treat the species with the care they deserve.  

Coexistence 

An alpaca ranch in lion country. Photo by Paige.

Saying we must coexist with wildlife is one thing but doing it can raise questions and often requires thoughtful, proactive strategy. That’s why the Mountain Lion Foundation aims to help people do both. We drove through scenic Grand County to visit an alpaca ranch with the CATs Campaign Manager, Sam Miller, who lives in Grand County.  

Alpacas in lion country. Photo by Paige.

There we were greeted by thirty alpacas and three Great Pyrenees puppies, eager to escort us to the house’s door. We sat down with the couple, who told us of their recent struggles coexisting with wildlife on the ranch. They suspected they had lost two livestock guardian dogs (LGDs) and one alpaca to mountain lions, one of which was confirmed by state agency personnel. Using LGDs is a tried-and-true method for protecting livestock, and it’s very rare for a cougar to kill an LGD, but it does happen.  The couple felt especially bad about the mountain lion that Colorado Parks and Wildlife killed because of their losses.  

The ranchers had recently acquired the three LGD puppies, which is a great choice — LGDs are most effective in a group. But despite their size, the pups aren’t ready to be the sole defenders of their flock without further training and maturity. The alpaca ranch had been hit hard over the years with wildfires: Their barn burned down, and there was damage to their fences at multiple points. After these hardships, the couple decided they were open to any help they could get to prevent more losses.  

Paige and livestock guardian dog. Photo by Josh.

After hearing their story and assessing the property, the Mountain Lion Foundation decided to take on the project of creating a more carnivore-safe ranch for their alpacas. We plan to return this fall to the ranch to help make their ranch safer for their alpacas and guardian dogs — and keeping livestock safe also keeps the local mountain lions safe because state agency personnel aren’t called in to lethally remove any lions.  

Our mission to “ensure that America’s lion survives and flourishes in the wild” is a lofty one. Our work in Colorado exemplifies some of the ways that the Mountain Lion Foundation sets out to accomplish that mission through education, advocacy, and coexistence. Stay tuned to learn more about the Mountain Lion Foundation’s work to protect and support America’s lion.  

A wildlife watcher, a wildlife agency, and a mountain lion on the eastern range

By Paige Munson, Science and Policy Coordinator

Sharing a home with mountain lions

Colin Croft is a lifelong Nebraskan, naturalist, wildlife watcher, and teacher of ethics and philosophy at his community college. Ten years ago, he realized he was sharing his property with mountain lions. In 2014, Colin placed camera traps near his home in the Wildcat Hills. He was familiar with the wildlife in his area but was shocked to find images of a mountain lion on the camera. He kept his trail cameras active and continued to discover more about the hidden life of his community lions that live on what’s considered the eastern range of breeding lion populations in the United States.

Map of range of mountain lion population in the United States
The range of breeding mountain lion populations in the United States.

Colin was thrilled to discover an animal that, most people assumed, no longer existed in Nebraska. His curiosity about the carnivore he’d seen on his camera prompted him to learn more about the cat, and inadvertently, about wildlife management in a state not known for lions.

Mountain lion management and the need for wildlife agency reform

“Mountain lions, to me, really opened up the world of wildlife management, “ said Colin. “When I was a young guy, I did a little bit of hunting, and a lot more fishing. I was familiar with our state parks and our state agency, but I never really thought about their role and what they did. It was through mountain lions that I understood the agency’s view on wildlife. I had never questioned it before. But there is this notion that the agency needs to focus on consumptive users, mainly the hook and bullet crowd, but also park users. But if you’re wanting to enjoy wild places and be a wildlife watcher, you’re excluded. I never really recognized that.”

Colin also learned more about the historical attitudes of wildlife agencies towards carnivores. The last of the state’s mountain lions were mostly eradicated by the late 1800s. Part of this eradication was due to the overhunting of prey species but also to systematic bounties placed on carnivores with the goal of wiping them out. Colin says, “We’ve made a lot of ethical progress…and I believe there is hope for change. The history of how we view mountain lions and other species is proof of our change in perspective. We don’t need to look back very far to see that these were unwanted animals to most. I think mountain lions are kind of emblematic of our movement away from that.”

Newspaper excerpt from 192 showing bounty price for mountain lions.
$3 bounties on Nebraska mountain lions in 1922. Source: USDA Farm’s Bulletin 1293: Laws Relating to fur animals 1922.

The first modern case of mountain lions returning to Nebraska was confirmed in 1991 in the Pine Ridge, an escarpment (steep slope) in the northwestern part of the state. In 1995, after a female mountain lion was shot and killed the legislature voted to list mountain lions as game animals. This status offers regulation to their hunting but can’t protect them from hunting itself. Nebraska Game and Parks has launched extensive radio-collaring programs and research, but most of this hasn’t been shared with the public nor submitted for peer review.

In 2014, the agency decided there were enough mountain lions to have a hunt, but the season has been canceled and reinstated more than once as the population numbers rise and fall. The agency’s latest population estimate for the Pine Ridge in 2021 was 33 mountain lions. No estimates have been determined for the Niobrara Valley or Wildcat Hills populations.

At Nebraska Game and Parks, the return of mountain lions to the state was seen as a success. However, “success” in this case only prompted the Agency to set population reduction goals after citing several complaints from landowners.

This logic didn’t make sense to Colin. He learned that mountain lions don’t overpopulate, making hunting unnecessary. He also learned that hunting won’t prevent conflict with humans. “It’s like trying to reduce crime by randomly imprisoning people.” Hunting doesn’t select for “problem” animals, so it is unlikely to solve for anything. Colin wants to see conflict with mountain lions dealt with on an individual level, with each case being treated uniquely, not a blanket assault on the species.

In addition to the Pine Ridge hunt, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission voted to approve hunting in the Niobrara Valley in 2023. In June of 2024 the Commission will be voting on whether to hunt mountain lions in Colin’s home, the Wildcat Hills.

Colin acknowledges that things could be a lot worse in Nebraska. “Some people don’t want any mountain lions in Nebraska, or an open season on them. The agency seems to be trying to find a middle ground.”

Leaping Nebraska lion.
Leaping Nebraska lion. Trail photograph courtesy of Colin Croft.

The case for more research by wildlife agencies

People like Colin who live on the eastern range of lion populations rely on information from states where there’s been more investment into learning about cougars. Colin says, “We rely on research from western states. When we’re thinking about Midwestern states [John] Laundre said we should really be calling them river lions. He makes the point that waterways are their transportation and infrastructure. If you have steeper elevations like in the western states, water goes from point A to point B pretty quickly. Since Nebraska is so flat, we have a lot of meandering waterways. It would really be valuable to have more research in Nebraska to see if mountain lions behave and recolonize differently than in western states. But whatever research we have going on here is done by [Nebraska Game and Parks] for its own purposes. The only time Nebraskans see the research is when it’s used to justify adding another mountain lion hunting season.”

Despite his frustrations with the lack of research investment by his wildlife agency, Colin still finds good in the department, including its support of the Master Naturalist program and their outreach efforts to educate more people about wildlife. Nebraska Game and Parks also puts efforts towards projects like the Nebraska Legacy Project that focuses on conservation. Colin has become a major voice advocating for reform at Nebraska Game and Parks through letters, hearings, petitions, and collaborative projects.

Outside of his work advocating for mountain lions in the Nebraska Game and Parks, Colin is an ambassador for the cougars in his own community. He hosts a Facebook page called “Nebraskans Living with Mountain Lions” to get people excited about the cats, shares his mountain lion images on iNaturalist for citizen science, and posts his mountain lion videos on his YouTube channel. He hopes sharing glimpses into the lives of lions will help people care about them as much as he does, and maybe to speak up for them too.

Two lions in Nebraska. One collared.
“Considering the way they’ve been treated, I think they deserve to be left alone. From an ethics standpoint, they have a life that matters to them and if they aren’t disturbing us, they’ve earned the right to be left alone if only for a generation or two. If there is scientific evidence otherwise, I’ll accept it. But until then, they deserve to be left alone in my book.” Quote and trail photograph by Colin Croft.

One small step for mountain lion protection in Texas

Sometimes small steps are enormously important. On May 23, Texas put two very modest protections in place for the state’s mountain lion population. Though modest, wildlife advocates nationwide celebrated that decision because it marked the first time that Texas has created rules to protect their native lions – ever.

These two new rules, both of which are now in place and enforceable, are common-sense laws that help prevent excessive cruelty to wild mountain lions. The first bans “canned hunts,” which is when an individual wild lion is captured and then later released under controlled conditions so that a trophy hunter can more easily shoot it. The second new rule mandates that traps for mountain lions be checked at least every 36 hours, which in most cases prevents those lions from slowly and painfully dying of dehydration or starvation. The trapped lions are usually still killed, but at least their deaths are likely less horrific.

A trap for mountain lions
A new law in Texas requires that traps like these be checked at least every 36 hours to hopefully prevent lions from dying a slow death from starvation or dehydration. Photograph courtesy of Fin & Fur Films.

Mountain lions are still legally considered “vermin” in Texas, and before now, lions in Texas had no legal protections whatsoever. All other states with lions in them have at least some minimal protections for their mountain lions. So, while these steps in Texas are small ones, they represent a significant change in Texas policy, and they may open the door to additional protections by the Texas Parks & Wildlife Commission down the road.

While the Mountain Lion Foundation played a small, supporting role in getting these new regulations passed, the lion’s share of the credit goes to Texans for Mountain Lions. This grassroots coalition includes Texas-based landowners, conservation experts, wildlife advocates, and mountain lion scientists. Over the last few years, this coalition has responded to reports of excessive lion killing in Texas and successfully advocated for the Texas Parks & Wildlife Commission to take these important animals more seriously. To their credit, the Commission created a stakeholder group to study the issues, and these two new rules came to fruition in large part because they were recommended by that stakeholder group.

Another recommendation was to require “harvest reporting” in Texas, meaning that any mountain lions killed by hunters, animal control officers, or trappers would have to be reported to the state’s wildlife agency, Texas Parks & Wildlife. Without data like these, it’s hard to know how many lions are being killed in Texas, so mandatory reporting is an important step toward more robust and proactive lion management. At their most recent meeting, the Commission voiced support for this, so we are hopeful that mandatory reporting will be put in place in Texas in the near future.

A beautiful Texas mountain lion
A mountain lion in Texas. Photograph courtesy of Fin & Fur Films.

The Mountain Lion Foundation thanks Texans for Mountain Lions, the Texas Parks & Wildlife Commission, and our Texas-based members and supporters for their vocal backing of these new and historic mountain lion protections in Texas – these two new rules are a small but important step in the right direction!

Call for Applicants! The Return of Coexistence Camp, June 28-30

The Mountain Lion Foundation is expanding our cohort of Coexistence Ambassadors! These incredible humans are proactive advocates for mountain lions where they live. Ambassadors receive in-depth, hands-on training at Coexistence Camps in working ranch/agricultural environments.

 

Our next  Camp will take place in Mendocino County, California on June 28-30. We want you to apply!

 

The Mountain Lion Foundation launched the Coexistence Ambassador program in 2023, and last year’s Ambassadors are out there right now, fostering coexistence in a number of different ways – they attend public events to staff a Mountain Lion Foundation table, write letters to their elected officials or to the local newspaper editor, help local producers install lion deterrents to protect their livestock, make public presentations about mountain lions, help their neighbors make good choices when mountain lions are seen or encountered in their community, advocate for lion safety on social media, and much more.

 

We now have trained Ambassadors in six different states.

 

If you are a passionate proponent of living peacefully with lions, and you want to increase your impact on their behalf, we invite you to apply for this special opportunity in northern California. Travel funds are available! We welcome applicants from anywhere in the U.S.

 

Apply to be a Coexistence Ambassador and attend our June Camp!

 

Space is limited. Please apply soon. 

 

Husking and table time at Coexistence Camp 2023. Image by Lynn Mason.
Coexistence Ambassador, Julie Marshall, loving a resident lamb. Image courtesy of Sean Hoover.
Group hike and wildlife tracking exercise in the Mendocino wilderness. Image by Ubaldo Hernandez.