Trophy hunting and trapping are hobbies that are struggling to justify themselves in today’s age of empathy, education, and conservation awareness. Despite Arizona voters’ disdain for animal cruelty, such practices are still wreaking havoc on the wild cats of the Grand Canyon State. That’s why the Mountain Lion Foundation (MLF) is partnering with Arizonans for Wildlife (AFW) to put an end to these senseless acts of cruelty once and for all. For 10 days MLF employees will be helping AFW gather signatures for a proposed November 2018 ballot measure that would ban the trophy hunting and trapping of all wild cat species within the state, including mountain lions, bobcats, jaguars, ocelots, and lynx.

Though Arizonans feel strongly about inhumane trapping practices, voting to ban the use of steel-jawed leghold traps, body-crushing traps, and snares on public land by an overwhelming majority in 1994, such devices are still used on private land (with cage traps being used on public land). Arizona currently has no limits on the number of bobcats that can be killed each year – over 4,000 bobcats have been killed on average each year for the past five years.

Trapping poses a serious and unnecessarily barbaric threat to all wildlife. As they’re indiscriminate and aren’t tailored to catch just one species, leghold traps and snares result in an inordinate amount of bycatch, which includes both endangered species like the jaguar and ocelot and domestic animals such as dogs. Arizona requires that trappers check their traps only once a day, which is plenty of time for a caught animal to sustain serious injuries to its limbs and teeth while attempting to chew through the trap/snare or even their own leg,or suffer from exposure and dehydration.

Trophy hunting exacerbates the pressures wild cat species face. Mountain lions and bobcats are usually hunted through hounding, which is currently permitted by the Arizona Game and Fish Department. Hounding involves the use of a guide with a pack of GPS-collared dogs that track, chase, and corner their query until the “hunter” follows the dogs to their location and shoots the cat at point-blank range.

Hounding is a dangerous activity for both wild cats and trained dogs. Cats don’t have the running endurance that dogs do and may turn around to fight instead of continuing to flee, leading to injuries to both parties. The heat stress put on animals during high-speed chases under the Arizona sun is serious and needless. Pursuit of endangered species like jaguars and ocelots is prohibited under federal law, but hounds can and will chase and harass any wild cat they find.

Besides the abject cruelty imposed upon wild cats, management of their populations through trapping and trophy hunting is not scientifically sound and has farther-reaching impacts than many realize. The killing of adult female mountain lions usually leads to the orphaning of 1-3 cubs that can’t fend for themselves or take down their own prey until they’re about 12 months old, with many remaining with their mothers until 2 years of age. Killing adult male cats opens territory for young males to move into; individuals that will kill any kittens they come across in an attempt to breed with their mothers.

Several extensive studies also show that killing mountain lions and bobcats only increases human-wildlife conflicts. The young, experienced males that move into a slain adult male’s previous habitat are more likely to engage in conflict with livestock and/or humans, though this is a rare occurrence considering the amount of humans and livestock that continue to encroach upon wild cat habitat. According to the most recent and widely accepted science, the best way to manage predators is with nonlethal methods that discourage or disable said predators from coming into contact with livestock and domestic animals.

We’re also fighting to save wild cats in Arizona to preserve the innumerable benefits they offer to native ecosystems. Top predators like mountain lions, jaguars, ocelots, lynx, and bobcats exist to provide a balance to the great quantities of herbivores (animals like deer, antelope, rodents, and hares) that populate the landscape. If predators didn’t exist, herbivore populations would rise exponentially until they eat themselves out of a home, which would devastate Arizona’s native wildlife communities that rely upon certain types of vegetation to persist. Just look at the reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone National Park and the effect that had on various ecoregions where aspen stands overgrazed by elk began to regrow again, altering the hydrology of rivers and streams and restoring natural processes that had been absent for decades!

The presence of mountain lions has a similar regulatory effect that contributes to all levels of Arizonan ecosystems. Leftover mountain lion kills (primarily deer carcasses) attract the most scavenger species ever documented and subsequently provide food for other animals like black bears, California condors, eagles, and coyotes, not to mention the litany of invertebrates, fungi, and microscopic organisms that break down organic matter. This all eventually leads to the return of organic nutrients into soil, a critically important cycle vital to the health and growth of plants.

Wild cats are an essential component of the Arizonan landscape and must be managed humanely. Arguments in favor of trophy hunting and trapping have no scientific or ethical base to stand on, whereas our understanding of the importance of wild cats to native ecosystems is only increasing with research and study.

Mountain lions, bobcats, jaguars, lynx, and ocelots have a right to life without the danger of being pursued, trapped, snared, or shot inhumanely. Will you speak for our wild cats and help ensure their protection in Arizona?

On Monday, January 23, 2018 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) announcedthe official removal of the Eastern cougar from the Federal List of Threatened and Endangered Wildlife. The delisting will take effect February 22, 2018.When the Service first declared in 2011 that the eastern cougar was extinct, taxonomists replied that the subspecies never existed. The fact that the Service holds that “the eastern cougar listing cannot be used as a method to protect other cougars” demonstrates a serious flaw in Federal policy affecting species which have been intentionally extirpated across vast areas, damaging human and environmental health, but are not protected because they exist in a sustainable population somewhere else, far across the country.

In 2016, 73 conservation organizations submitted a letter to the USFWS stating that the problem with a decision to delist based on extinction is that no scientific evidence exists that the cougars which once ranged the East are different than other cougars throughout North America. The Service’s insistence that the cougar is extinct and therefore subject to delisting is a spurious argument that cannot be substantiated given the most up-to-date DNA analyses. It is a poor excuse for delisting given that cougars in the Eastern United States continue to meet all of the qualifications for protection under the Endangered Species Act.

“The USFWS cannot declare extinct a cougar subspecies our best science now understands never existed,” said Cougar Rewilding Foundation president, Christopher Spatz in 2016. “The USFWS needs to develop a federal recovery plan for the entire historic range of the North American cougar including the eastern U.S.”

Questions of Taxonomy

Currently, the puma species native to the western hemisphere taxonomically is named Puma concolor (also known as cougar, mountain lion, and panther). Listed as an endangered species in 1973, Puma concolor couguar, the eastern cougar, was just one of 32 subspecies described in 1946. However, genetic research in the 1990s determined there were just six subspecies, including the one that is widely distributed across North America, Puma concolor cougar.

In 2011 the USFWS opened comments on removing the Eastern Cougar from the Endangered Species List. The 2011 USFWS review acknowledges that the 1946 taxonomy of the eastern cougar is flawed. Modern research cannot distinguish between the thousands of cougars living throughout the western U.S. and the rare historic specimens tested east of the Mississippi River. Cougar biologists now generally agree there is a single North American subspecies.

Threats to Recolonization

“This is a simple case of a broadly-dispersed North American subspecies moving to recover its historic range east of the prairie states,” said Lynn Cullens of the Mountain Lion Foundation. “The big cats face no fewer threats than when they were originally listed. Federal action should include, not remove, protections for animals seeking territory within the former range.”

Puma concolor has been extirpated from the U.S. east of the Missouri River and north of Florida.
Recolonization has been characterized by cougars dispersing from prairie states into the Midwest for a generation, with rare evidence of the cats roaming as far afield as the Michigan Upper Peninsula, Kentucky and even Connecticut.

“The Midwest has been a cougar graveyard for 25 years,” said Spatz, “Females and wild kittens have not been documented east of the Missouri River.”

Potential for Protection

Cougars need federal protection under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) across their entire historic range. Cougars within their extirpated range meet all of the qualifications for protection under the Endangered Species Act. These include “(A) the present or threatened destruction, modification, or curtailment of the species’ habitat or range, (B) overutilization for commercial, recreational, scientific, or educational purposes, and (D) the inadequacy of existing regulatory mechanisms through all of the North American puma’s historic, extirpated range.” (Assessment of Species Status, ESA Section 4).

Designation of Eastern cougars as a Distinct Population Segment (DPS) is consistent with the intent of Congress in establishing the classification (61 Fed. Reg. 4722, 2/7/1996). The cougars are “distinct” as defined by USFWS since they are geographically isolated from breeding populations elsewhere in the United States. Second, the puma’s former range east of the Mississippi River and north of Florida presents a significant gap.

Adding to the complexity of the puma recovery effort is the fact that the endangered panther of Florida – until Monday, January 23 listed as a subspecies under the Endangered Species Act – shares the primary genetic makeup of the rest of the U.S. population. In a press release, the USFWS stated that “The Service’s removal of the eastern cougar from the endangered species list does not affect the status of the Florida panther, a separate cougar subspecies listed as endangered, and all other cougars that may be found in Florida, which are protected under a “similarity of appearance” designation to aid in protection of the Florida panther.”

“As the lone surviving cougar population in the East,” said Cullens, “the panther’s federal recovery plan, including reintroductions, is critical to recovery across the southeastern U.S., and the panther should remain fully protected by future USFWS decisions.”

The Value of Cougars

A 2016 scientific paper gave a strong boost to the human value of a federal recovery plan for cougars when it pointed out that deer in the U.S. (the cat’s main prey) cause 1.2 million deer-vehicle collisions annually, incurring $1.66 billion in damages, 29,000 injuries, and over 200 deaths. As many as 20 human deaths could be avoided annually if mountain lions were restored to the East.

And mountain lions contribute to the viability of other species and the environment generally. In 2017 Mark Elbroch published research showing that mountain lions contribute to over 3.3 million pounds of carrion to scavengers within North & South American ecosystems every day — that’s half a million pounds more than the amount of beef McDonald’s serves nationwide. 39 different bird & mammal species in the study area fed on kills left by mountain lions, representing an astounding 15% of local wildlife.Common visitors included usual suspects such as red foxes, but also extended to animals like chickadees, deer mice, and even flying squirrels. Myriad invertebrates, fungi, and bacteria that benefit from carcasses as well. Additionally, all that decomposing organic matter returns essential nutrients and elements to soil so that plants may take them up and start the nutrient cycle anew.

“Pumas are one of the most important ecosystem regulators we have,” notes Greg Costello of Wildlands Network in 2016. “When people see the economic and safety value of big carnivores doing their natural work, we’ll all benefit.”

Repercussions

Unfortunately, the delisting may enable individual states greater latitude to kill mountain lions as they re-establish populations in the East. Nebraska, with a recently established mountain lion population of less than 60 statewide, recently expressed its intention to reopen a hunt season on the big cats in 2018. Illinoisis the only state East of the Rockies (other than Florida) that has outlawed killing mountain lions without a state issued permit.

“We can’t rely on a shooting gallery of state laws that encourage everything from unenforced protections to ‘kill on sight’ to no policy at all,” notes Cullens. “State laws are real obstacles, sure as bullets, and cougars don’t see borders.”

For more about the Eastern cougar:

Visit our Timeline to see the steady state by state extinction of mountain lions in the East.

Read our feature article Eastward Ho about the misconceptions and controversy surrounding cougar recolonization.

Natural disturbances, such as fires, are regular components of all ecosystems and are important for ecosystem health. While the effects of these disruptions may be temporary on an ecological time scale, fires can significantly impact both humans and wildlife by displacing individuals and devastating habitat and homes.Behavior of wildlife in response to natural disturbances will differ based on the type and severity of the event, as well as the species of animal. Some animals will flee, some will fly away, others will burrow underground to escape the disturbance, and inevitably, some will die. Displaced wildlife, those that have lost their homes, will temporarily seek out food and shelter in non-affected areas, including both rural and urban areas.

With fires raging in Napa County, human encounters with displaced wildlife are imminent. Below are some recommendations for responding to displaced wildlife after a natural disturbance.

Wildlife that live in fire-prone ecosystems have evolved alongside fires and will use their keen senses (such as hearing, smell, and sight) to escape fire. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service reports that it is uncommon for large mammals to die in wildfires and do not need help escaping fire. However, habitat devastation by fire can lead to temporary displacement of animals, including mountain lions, bobcats, bears, and coyotes.

If you live near a fire, you may notice deer and other animals coming through your yard. Deer were seen seeking refuge in the backyards of residential areas in Burbank and surrounding areas during the fires in Southern California, and coyotes were spotted running down the hills, away from the flames.

The most vulnerable individuals in a fire are young animals who are still dependent on their mothers, as they may get lost if they are separated from them in a fire. We received the video below from a firefighter who recently came across the 3 mountain lion kittens on his way to fight a large forest fire in Northern California. He did not see the mother, however, she was likely nearby. Mother mountain lions leave their kittens when they go to hunt. As the kittens were not injured in any way, he behaved appropriately by quietly observing them and allowing them to pass undisturbed.

Video of Kittens Recently Seen by a Firefighter

In 2005 a mountain lion kitten was rescued from the Butte Fire, and in 2012 a bear cub with burnt paws was rescued from the Mustang Complex Fire in Idaho. California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) intercepted the kitten, and Idaho Fish and Game the bear, and both were treated for their wounds.

Stories like this are highly unusual, as wildlife can generally detect fires early enough to flee. For young animals that are still dependent on their mothers, becoming separated during a fire can be life threatening. Luckily, these two were rescued, rehabilitated, and re-released! If you come across injured wildlife, do not approach them. Contact your local wildlife agencies and report the incident.

The best thing for displaced wildlife is to pass through and move on to natural habitat with minimal human interaction. Feeding wildlife, such as deer, can provide a false sense of available resources and can result in them sticking around, which can attract predators to your property. To protect yourself and your pets, do NOT attempt to take selfies with wild animals. Be sure to keep all pets indoors and livestock in secure enclosures with a roof during this time. Mountain lions, coyotes, and bobcats will be stressed and in search of food until they, and their prey, can return home to their natural habitats.

If you do encounter a mountain lion, make yourself appear as large as possible and make as much noise as possible. Pick up small children and keep eye contact and slowly create distance between yourself and the mountain lion. If you are attacked, fight back and especially protect your neck and throat. Use branches, rocks, purses and your own hands, legs, or whatever you have to protect yourself. Your goal is to convince the mountain lion that you are a threat, not prey.

For help holding or reporting displaced or injured animals, contact local authorities, such as the animal control office or your local wildlife rehabilitation centers.

As the season warms up and everything gets drier, there will be a lot more walking out to the remote cameras as driving increases the fire danger. Our dedicated camera team is ready to employ foot power in the hopes of getting a mountain lion on a trail camera in the next few weeks on the Preserve.Our last camera check took all day as we were scouting out former camera locations to see if they are still underwater. Due to the historically wet rain season we’ve just had, it has taken a lot longer to deploy all our cameras back out onto the locations we use because they’ve been underwater much later into the season.

One of our most remote cameras is still inaccessible by vehicle or foot and if you need a boat to get to the location, you’re quite unlikely to see a lion floating by. While lions are known to swim, they’re not water babies and will do so generally to escape danger, get to another area of territory, or pursue food or a mate.

Unusually wet years like the one we’ve just had, require all the resident wildlife to adapt and use different resources and habitat for food and cover. Areas wildlife typically uses may be underwater or otherwise inaccessible due to the flooding. This also means that lions following prey and looking for dispersal routes might move differently, not just in the Valley, but possibly in the Sierra as the lower snow elevation would shift wildlife movement in the mountains as well.

For the other ten cameras we have deployed, we’re just about to hang the rubber boots up! The water is definitely receding and soon we anticipate that pathways will be dry enough to walk in regular boots. At some of the cameras that still have water close by, we see distinct tracks of coyotes, bobcats, river otters, raccoons and deer. We’ve not seen anything that can distinctly be identified as lion tracks near our cameras besides the area where we placed the carcass cameras.

As we approach each camera location we quietly observe the area for tracks, scat, scratch and other disturbance that could mean a large predator. In this way we’re ensuring a two-fold surveillance method of our camera sites – the physical activity that may be taking place, and what critters actually walk by the trail cameras.

We’re also looking ahead to the Sierra snow melt as the increased runoff from last winter’s dense snow pack could bring a new flood event, which would again create different wildlife travel patterns and require that the wildlife on the Preserve adapt to finding food and shelter on a wetter landscape.

We will have to see how the coming snow melt affects our study efforts!

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The Bureau of Land Management initiated a mountain lion study on the Cosumnes River Preserve in collaboration with the California Department Fish and Wildlife in 2014. Currently, the study is being carried out by an all-volunteer crew of dedicated individuals who receive support and oversight from the Bureau of Land Management. The Sacramento Zoo has awarded a grant to the Mountain Lion Foundation which has allowed the Foundation to purchase and loan ten trail cameras to the Preserve to help carry out this study. The goal is to find and document a mountain lion on the Cosumnes River Preserve.