Tag: Mountain lion

Mountain Lion Minutes – The Consequences of Sport Hunting: Orphaned Kittens

The Mountain Lion Minutes are a monthly blog authored by Zack Curcija, an Arizona-based volunteer with the Mountain Lion Foundation. 

 

The Consequences of Sport Hunting: Orphaned Kittens

 

A gunshot pierces the crisp December air in a central Arizona mountain range, temporarily halting the cacophony of baying hounds. A female mountain lion – a queen – is dead. She was not destroyed for committing depredations on the cattle that graze the nearby valleys. She was not posing any threat to the humans who pursued and killed her for sport. She was also not a solitary cat: A litter of approximately four-month-old kittens awaits her return.

How many kittens comprised the litter will remain a mystery, though it is probable the slain female – like the average mountain lion mother – had between two and four kittens. Young kittens are entirely dependent on their mother for nutrition and protection, and – once orphaned – are destined to die of starvation, exposure, or predation on their own. This is the presumed fate for all but one of the litter, a remarkable female kitten who emerged from her mountain stronghold nearly one month after the death of her mother. Lured to an idyllic homestead by the sound of clucking chickens, the kitten ventured to the same trailhead where the hunters who killed her mother initiated their chase.

An emaciated Poppy just days before her rescue at 5 months old – Photo credit: Lee Chandler

A benevolent rancher discovered the emaciated kitten clawing at a chicken coop in a desperate attempt to satiate weeks of hunger. At the recommendation of the Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD), the kitten was captured and rescued by the Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center, where she was rehabilitated back to health and given the name Poppy. There she will spend the remainder of her life among other  mountain lions with similar backstories. Though her growth was stunted from the malnutrition she suffered at an early age, Poppy retains the vigor that saw her through her time as an orphan, and she enjoys roughhousing with her older – and much larger – foster siblings.

Poppy is emblematic of a common but typically invisible repercussion of mountain lion hunting. While the recreational harvest of spotted kittens or females with spotted kittens is unlawful in Arizona, young kittens are rarely travelling with their mothers when the latter are pursued by hunters and their hounds. Aiming to reduce the number of kittens orphaned each hunting season, AZGFD recently implemented a seasonal closure between June 1st and August 20th of each year to accommodate a portion of the seasonal birth pulse when most kittens are born (AZGFD 2021a). A seasonal closure – in principle – offers a window for dependent kittens born during the birth pulse to physically develop and begin travelling with their mothers, therefore making family groups more identifiable to hunters when the season reopens.

However, the brief recess – in practice – only benefits a small minority of kittens born during the earliest stage of the closure, which itself represents a fraction of the seasonal birth pulse observed in North American mountain lions. Though female mountain lions can birth litters at any time throughout the year, North Americas mountain lions exhibit a seasonal birth pulse between May and October, during which more than 70% of annual births take place (Laudré and Hernández 2007; Logan and Sweanor 2009). For the first six weeks of life, a period known as the “denning” life stage, mountain lion kittens are mostly sedentary and therefore especially vulnerable to orphanage while their mother frequently travels alone. As kittens mature, the probability they will be found travelling with their mother increases continuously until they disperse to establish their own territory as independent subadults between 12 and 24 months of age (O’malley et al. 2018).

Most of the studies that support the birth pulse phenomenon are from northern latitudes. An Arizona study revealed a possible delayed birth pulse, which may reflect an adaptation to extreme summer heat and aridity. Most kittens in the study area were born in August, October, and December, suggesting there is minimal overlap between when most kittens are born and the seasonal closure that occurs when temperatures are high and historic levels of hunting were already relatively low (Wakeling et al. 2015; Zornes et al. 2006).

To confer sufficient protection to most mountain lion mothers and their dependent kittens, a seasonal closure must accommodate a greater portion of the mountain lion birth pulse. Research conducted by Panthera found that the overwhelming majority of mountain lion kittens born in a given year complete their denning stage and are capable of travelling with their mothers by December 1st. The biologists reveal that extending a seasonal closure from June 1st through November 1st would accommodate the denning period of 85% of mountain lion family groups that include dependent kittens, while delaying the season until December 1st would accommodate the denning period for 91% of litters (O’malley et al. 2018).

At nearly nine and half months long, the hunting season for mountain lion is conspicuously longer than that of any other big game species in Arizona (AZGFD 2021b). A seasonal closure from June 1st through December 1st would still allow for six months of hunting opportunities while improving the detectability of most mountain lion family groups on the landscape. Extending the seasonal closure to overlap with the hunting seasons of other game species is also important to mitigate the type of hunting that most adversely affects female mountain lions. AZGFD data show that hunters targeting other game species while opportunistically carrying a mountain lion tag are less selective if they encounter a mountain lion. Opportunistic hunters disproportionately shoot females compared hound hunters who generally seek larger trophy males and can often get close enough to – with the appropriate knowledge – identify sex and approximate age (Zornes et al. 2006; AZGFD 2021a).

Poppy at around 13 months old – Photo credit: Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center

While orphaned kittens are an inevitable consequence of hunting female mountain lions, AZGFD possesses the knowledge and the ability to offer greater protection to female mountain lions and their dependent kittens through an extended seasonal closure and other measures such as reducing female harvest thresholds and implementing mandatory mountain lion sex identification training for hunters. AZGFD was instrumental in mediating Poppy’s rescue, and as an agency expressly committed to applying knowledge generated through rigorous conservation research, fostering ecological sustainability, and upholding hunting ethics, they should be receptive to sound recommendations that embody all three desirable features of modern hunting.

Hunting induced kitten orphanage is an additive source of predictable mortality that occurs each year as a function of annual hunting rates. Though precisely quantifying the number of kittens orphaned each year through sport hunting is not possible at the state or national level, estimates can be calculated from hunter harvest and mountain lion life history data. The following estimates use numbers published exclusively by AZGFD, and analogous data should be available in other states where mountain lions are managed as a game species. In 2021, hunters killed and reported 118 female mountain lions across Arizona. Age-specific information is not available at this time, and it is likely that at least some of these females were younger than reproductive age (less than 1.5 to 2.5 years old). Therefore, these calculations might slightly overestimate the number of orphaned kittens if some of the females harvested last year were themselves kittens or juveniles. The agency reports that 75% of reproductively mature females are caring for depending offspring at any time, with the majority of mountain lion mothers caring for kittens born during the current year. If 75% of the 118 female lions killed had an average of three kittens, then Poppy was one of approximately 267 mountain lion kittens orphaned by hunting in Arizona in 2020 (AZGFD 2021c; AZGFD 2021d).

Not every kitten dies as a result of being orphaned and not every kitten with a mother survives to adulthood, but the kittens that were orphaned and died because of hunting would otherwise have competed within the arena of natural selection where their survival or death would influence mountain lion population health. AZGFD reports that the survival of orphaned kittens is significantly lower than the survival rate of kittens with a mother: Kittens older than six months have a 71% chance of survival once orphaned compared to a 95% survival rate in kittens with their mother, while kittens younger than six months have a 4% chance of survival as an orphan compared to a 66% survival rate in kittens with their mother (AZGFD 2021d). In reality, kitten survival rates exist on spectrum such that the probability of survival increases exponentially with age. The broad age categories outlined by AZGFD likely yield an overestimation of kitten survival since the survival rate of an orphaned seven-month-old kitten will be closer to the survival rate of an orphaned five-month-old kitten than that of an orphaned eleven-month-old kitten.

Making the conservative assumption that the age classes of orphaned kittens are neatly arranged into thirds (one third of the kittens are less than six months old, one third are between six months and a year old, and one third are over one year old and almost ready for dispersal), calculations based on AZGFD data suggest that around 137 orphaned mountain lion kittens died as a consequence of sport hunting in Arizona in 2020. Had this cohort of misfortunate mountain lion mothers survived to raise their litters, they would have collectively lost roughly 38 kittens to natural sources of mortality. Therefore, in 2020, sport hunting in Arizona resulted in the death of approximately 99 mountain lion kittens that would have otherwise survived to dispersal, adulthood, and reproductive viability.

The story of Poppy the mountain lion kitten represents the disproportionate impact of killing a female mountain lion with dependent kittens: How – in an instant – a single gunshot destroyed two generations of female mountain lions, and removed all possibility of Poppy growing to become a progenitor of her species in the wild. She lived for nearly a month as an orphan, weathering winter storms and frigid nighttime temperatures, evading predators, securing water, and likely outlasting her siblings before being mercifully rescued on the brink of death.

Most young kittens in her situation perish in obscurity, but Poppy may shine as an ambassador of future generations of mountain lion kittens vulnerable to orphanage without added protection. Her story compels us to question whether hunting induced kitten orphanage must remain an unfortunate reality, and recent conservation research suggests the current magnitude of these unintended collateral effects is reducible with ethical management strategies that consider mountain lion life history.

 

References Cited:

Arizona Game and Fish Department (a) (2021) Mountain Lion Fact Sheet: Understanding Mountain Lion Management in Arizona. https://azgfd-portal-wordpress-pantheon.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/archive/Understanding-Mountain-Lion-ManagementAZ10-6-17.pdf

(b) (2021) 2021-2022 Arizona Hunting Regulations. https://azgfd-portal-wordpress-pantheon.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/archive/2021-22-Arizona-Hunting-Regulations_211012.pdf

(c) 2020 Arizona Mountain Lion Harvest Summary. https://azgfd-portal-wordpress-pantheon.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/archive/2020-AZ-Mountain-Lion-Harvest-Summary.pdf

(d) Mountain Lion Identification and Methods of Determining Sex. https://azgfd-portal-wordpress-pantheon.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/archive/Mountain-Lion-ID-Methods-of-Determining-Sex-and-Age.pdf

Laundré, J. and Hernández, L. (2007) Do Female Pumas (Puma concolor) Exhibit a Birth Pulse?, Journal of Mammalogy, 88(5), 1300–1304, https://doi.org/10.1644/06-MAMM-A-296R.1

Logan, K., & Sweanor, L. (2009). Behavior and social organization of a solitary carnivore. In M. Hornocker & S. Negri (Eds), Cougar: Conservation and Ecology (p. 105-117). Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.

O’malley, C., Elbroch, L.M., Kusler, A., Peziol, M. and Quigley, H. (2018), Aligning mountain lion hunting seasons to mitigate orphaning dependent kittens. Wildl. Soc. Bull., 42: 438-443. https://doi.org/10.1002/wsb.902

Wakeling, B., Day, R., Munig, A., and Childs, J. (2015) Age and Sex Composition of Harvest and Timing of Birth Frequency for Arizona Mountain Lions. In L. Huenneke, C. Van Riper, and K. Hays‐Gilpin (Eds). The Colorado Plateau VI: science and management at the landscape scale (p. 95-101). University of Arizona Press, Tucson. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt183pc7f

Zornes, M., S. Barber, and B. Wakeling (2006) Harvest methods and hunter selectivity of mountain lions in Arizona. In J. Cain III and P. Krausman (Eds). Managing wildlife in the southwest (p.85-89). Southwest Section of the Wildlife Society, Tucson. https://bri.sulross.edu/pubs/proceedings/Southwest2006_sm.pdf

On the Trail with Photographer Roy Toft: The Art of Photographing Pumas and Other Wildcats

On the Trail with Photographer Roy Toft: The Art of Photographing Pumas and Other Wildcats

Credit: Roy Toft

Wildlife photographer Roy Toft  discusses the art of photographing pumas and other wildcats with Mountain Lion Foundation’s own Jessica Janson.

From exotic locations all over the globe we explore photographer Roy Toft’s world of pumas and other wildcats through the lens of his camera. Join us and be part of the adventure!

About Roy Toft:

Roy started working as a full-time wildlife photographer in 1991. Spending 6-9 months in the field every year producing natural history content for magazines, books, etc. Around 2000, Roy started leading photo safaris around the world to photography enthusiasts as well as continuing his assignment and stock work. In 2005, Roy became a founding fellow in the International League of Conservation Photographers. This elite group of top professionals combine their talents to further conservation causes around the globe. Roy’s images have been published widely in popular magazines like National Geographic, Discover, Smithsonian, Audubon, etc. His coffee table book “Osa…where the Rainforest meets the Sea” is a wonderful tribute to an area in Costa Rica where Roy owned property and has been visiting for over 30 years. Roy makes his home in the beautiful boulders of Ramona with his wife Stella.

Credit: Roy Toft

Mountain Lion Minutes – Why Advocate for Mountain Lions?

The Mountain Lion Minutes are a monthly blog authored by Zack Curcija, an Arizona-based volunteer with the Mountain Lion Foundation. 

 

Why Advocate for Mountain Lions?

 

Photo Credit: Sean Hoover

Mountain lion. Puma. Cougar. Catamount. Panther. The many common names that describe the cat known scientifically as Puma concolor reflect the physical prowess and adaptability of the species. Historically ranging from  northern Canada to the southern tip of Patagonia and from the Atlantic to the Pacific coasts, the mountain lion is the most successful large mammal in the Western Hemisphere, next to humans. In the United States, the species is now primarily confined to the Mountain West, living in areas that support deer, their chief prey. From alpine meadows, through rugged canyons, and across sunbaked deserts, the mountain lion reigns as the top carnivore throughout most of its present range.

In the rugged American West, and in a small pocket of the Florida everglades, mountain lions found refuge from the centuries of persecution that extirpated the grizzly bear and wolf throughout much of the contiguous United States. Despite losing over 60% of their range in North America since the time of European contact, the IUCN registers the mountain lion as a species of “Least Concern,” since a robust population exists in the western United States and Canada where suitable habitat is currently abundant (Nielsen et al. 2008).

So why advocate for a species if their present population is deemed stable? In short, mountain lions require human advocates for the simple fact that human mismanagement of the natural world poses the greatest threat to the long-term survival of the species. Mountain lions cannot speak for themselves, but their success demonstrates their ability to flourish if afforded sufficient protection from habitat destruction and overhunting.

Ethical questions about the natural world can be viewed through three distinct yet potentially overlapping lenses. An anthropocentric view appraises the natural world for its direct and indirect value to humans. An ecocentric view is concerned with the integrity and intrinsic value of ecosystems. A biocentric view narrows the scope of ethical consideration to the well-being of individual nonhuman animals (Halsey and White 1988). I submit that the preservation of mountain lions strikes at the intersection of all three views, that each perspective forms one part of a braid that is essential to the long-term conservation of mountain lions and other nonhuman animals. In the following paragraphs, I will introduce the ways in which each perspective informs mountain lion advocacy, topics that will be explored in greater detail in subsequent essays.

Mountain lions are sentient creatures, and their capacity to suffer should warrant them ethical consideration on the individual level. Darwin’s (1871) elegant statement that, “The difference in mind between man and the higher animals, great as it is, certainly is one of degree and not of kind” has been substantiated in the fields of modern zoology, psychology, ethology, and others (de Waal 2016). Mountain lions are no exception, and, as mammals, they share with humans hundreds of millions of years of evolutionary history resulting in a similar physiology and nervous system.

Far from being the senseless killers of historical American lore, those who study mountain lions know them to be intelligent animals that exhibit the range of emotions and capacities of domestic cats. Like their domesticated feline cousins, mountain lions are playful, emotional, intelligent, and curious. Trail cameras and observations from the field reveal the otherwise secretive lives of wild mountain lions: a mother mountain lion purring while grooming and cuddling with her kittens, spirited kittens rambunctiously playing amongst themselves, an adult lion pushing and chasing a river cobble across a sandy beach.

Photo Credit: Jason Klassi

Though generally regarded as solitary, mountain lions exist within a network of intraspecific interactions. Female mountain lions, in particular, spend the bulk of their adult lives caring for litters of dependent offspring. Meanwhile, adult males dedicate a significant portion of their time to patrolling their territory for infiltrating males and searching for responsive females to sire litters.

Recent research is beginning to unveil the complexity of mountain lion sociology. Elbroch and colleagues (2017) recorded reciprocally altruistic food-sharing relationships between individual mountain lions in their study area, where a successful individual shares its kill with another, often unrelated, mountain lion from an adjacent or overlapping territory. Such reciprocal relationships – a prosocial feature common to humans – requires the cognitive ability to recall past encounters, to consider the future, and to mentally map the territories of friendly conspecifics. The authors suggest that this behavior may function to reduce potentially deadly intraspecific conflict, to relieve the high energetic demands and risks associated with frequent solitary hunting, and to maintain social order and breeding access between individual mountain lions.

Existing at low population densities, each individual mountain lion forms an integral component of the regional mountain lion population. With such large territorial needs, mountain lions are known as an umbrella species, because protecting sufficient habitat for them will invariably provide abundant habitat for a plethora of other species with smaller territorial requirements (Lambeck 1997; Beier 2009). For instance, the average range of an adult male mountain lion of 75-150 square miles may harbor thousands of individuals from other mammal or bird species and millions of individual insects (Shaw 2009).

As apex predators, mountain lions are ecosystem engineers that exert top-down control over the ecosystems they inhabit. Their presence in an area modulates the behavior of prey species. By keeping ungulates alert and mobile, mountain lions prevent the overconsumption of vegetation and mitigate the detrimental ecological consequences that would result, such as inhibited riparian plant recruitment, increased erosion, and changes to stream turbidity and temperature (Ripple and Beschta 2006). By disproportionately selecting aged and diseased prey species, mountain lions help direct ungulate population health (Krumm et al. 2010). Once prey is captured, the carrion produced and distributed by mountain lions supports an unprecedented variety of organisms, including numerous species of beetles, birds, and other mammals (Barry et al. 2018).

In addition to the cultural significance of such an iconic species, mountain lions offer ecosystem services that directly and indirectly benefit humans. Although industrialization allows modern humans to feel insulated from the natural world, we still ultimately rely on healthy ecosystems and the health of the components therein. Like other top carnivores, mountain lions are essential to ecosystem function, and their conservation should therefore appeal to those holding even the strongest anthropocentric view.

Though equipped with sharp teeth, claws, and incredible physical capabilities, mountain lions are far from the most dangerous animal to humans in North America. In the United States, this distinction goes to the mountain lion’s primary prey, deer. Each year, over 1.2 million vehicular collisions with deer injure 28,000 and kill over 200 people in the US. These accidents are most frequent in the East, where mountain lions and wolves are absent, and deer have consequently reached unnaturally high densities. Since mountain lions prevent deer overpopulation and modulate deer behavior, the ecosystem services provided by mountain lions offer compelling arguments to encourage their recolonization of their former range, possibly saving hundreds of human lives and billions of dollars each year (Gilbert et al. 2016). In addition to reducing vehicular collisions with deer, mountain lions contribute to curbing the spread of diseases for which deer are vectors, such as Lyme disease and chronic wasting disease (Krumm et al. 2010; Elbroch 2020).

As sentient animals that play an integral role in the ecosystems they inhabit, and upon which humans ultimately depend, mountain lions are worthy of protection. Clairvoyance is not required to foresee the impending threats mountain lions will face in the western US in the coming decades. We need only to identify the factors that led to the extirpation to their eastern cousins a century ago, and the recent extinction of their more distant feline cousins across the globe. Though mountain lions are notoriously cryptic in their habits, decades of rigorous research has clearly established the biological needs of the species. Mountain lions, like other large cats, require large, continuous tracks of biologically productive land with connectivity between subpopulations to maintain genetic diversity. Without adequate protected space, viable populations of mountain lions cannot survive, irrespective of how the species is managed by game agencies.

While levels of sport hunting in some US states exceed historic levels of bounty hunting, the greatest long-term threat to mountain lions is the loss, fragmentation, and degradation of habitat (Shaw 1989). As the human population and attendant industrialization increases in the American West, so too does the pressure placed on mountain lions. The trends of diminishing habitat, an exploding human population, and increasing hunting thresholds in the West are – without intervention – destined to replicate the tragedy of the eastern cougar.

The chronicles of the eastern and western mountain lion populations should not be viewed as distinct, but as a continuous story of the consequences of increasing human population densities and habitat degradation across the continental US. The current plight of threatened subpopulations within the American West offers an alarming preview of a prospective future for mountain lions across their current range. Even in parts of California, where sport hunting is prohibited, immense freeways fragment small islands of protected land thereby genetically isolating small populations of mountain lions. These closed populations are beginning to manifest the same deleterious recessive genetic traits observed in endangered Florida panthers, and both populations – through secure from hunting – suffer high rates of mortality from vehicular collisions (Beier 1993; USFWS 2018; NPS 2020).

Despite their resiliency, there is nothing intrinsic about mountain lions in the West that precludes them from meeting the same fate as their extirpated eastern cousins. Only our game and land management strategies can ensure the long-term viability of mountain lion populations. The current “Least Concern” status of mountain lions should not encourage complacency, but should instead motivate proactivity to anticipate and address impending threats to the species. The present circumstances are not fixed, and only represent a slice of time amid marked demographic changes to the western US. In a sense, the resiliency of the mountain lion has afforded humans the luxury of applying what we have learned from the recent regional extirpation of eastern mountain lions to inform the future management of the species across their present range, an option lost to the numerous taxa of wild cats that went extinct within the last two centuries. From our lofty position as the dominant species on the planet, we have the knowledge, the ability, and the duty to ensure that the magnificent mountain lion thrives in our wild places in perpetuity.

 

References Cited:

Barry, M., Elbroch, M., Aiello-Lammens, E., Sarno, R., Seeyle, L., Kusler, A., Quigley,  H., Grigione, M. (2018) Pumas as ecosystem engineers: ungulate carcasses support beetle assemblages in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Oecologia 189, 577–586. doi: 10.1007/s00442-018-4315-z

Beier, P. (1993) Determining Minimum Habitat Areas and Habitat Corridors for Cougars. Conservation Biology 7(1), 94-108. doi: 10.1046/j.1523-1739.1993.07010094.x. (2009) A Focal Species for Conservation Planning. In M. Hornocker & S. Negri (Eds),  Cougar: Conservation and Ecology (p. 177-189). Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.

Darwin, C.R. (1871) The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. United Kingdom: John Murray. De Waal, Frans (2017) Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? New York: W. Norton & Company.

Elbroch, M. (2020) The Cougar Conundrum: Sharing the World with a Successful Predator.  Washington, DC: Island Press.

Elbroch, L.M., Levy, M., Lubell, M., Quigley, H., and Caragiulo, A. (2017) Adaptive social strategies in a solitary carnivore. Science Advances 3(10). doi: 10.1126/sciadv.1701218.

Gilbert, S., Sivy, K., Pozzanghera, C., DuBour, A., Overduijn, K., Smith, M., Zhou, J., Little, J., Prugh, L. (2016) Socioeconomic Benefits of Large Carnivore Recolonization Through Reduced Wildlife‐Vehicle Collisions. Conservation Letters 10(4), 431-439.  https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.12280.

Halsey, M. and White, R. (1998) Crime, Ecophilosophy and Environmental Harm. Theoretical Criminology 2(3), 345-371. doi:10.1177/1362480698002003003

Krumm, C., Conner, M., Thompson Hobbs, N., Hunter, D., and Miller, M. (2010) Mountain lions prey selectively on prion-infected mule deer. Biology Letters 6, 209-211. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2009.0742.

Lambeck, R.J. (1997), Focal Species: A Multi-Species Umbrella for Nature Conservation. Conservation Biology, 11: 849-856. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1523-1739.1997.96319.x

National Park Service (2020) NPS Biologists Report First Abnormalities Linked to Inbreeding Depression in Mountain Lions (9/9/2020). Retrieved October 7, 2021, from https://www.nps.gov/samo/learn/news/first-abnormalities-linked-to-inbreeding-depression.htm

Nielsen, C., Thompson, D., Kelly, M. & Lopez-Gonzalez, C.A. (2015) Puma concolor. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: e.T18868A97216466.
http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2015-4.RLTS.T18868A50663436.en

Ripple, W. and Beschta, R. (2006) Linking a cougar decline, trophic cascade, and catastrophic regime shift in Zion National Park. Biological Conservation 133(4), 397-408. doi: 10.1016/j.biocon.2006.07.002.

Shaw, H. (1989) Soul Among Lions: The Cougar as Peaceful Adversary. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. (2009) The Emerging Cougar Chronicle. In M. Hornocker & S. Negri (Eds), Cougar: Conservation and Ecology (p. 17-26). Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.

United States Fish and Wildlife Service (2018) Florida panther (n.d.). Retrieved October 7, 2021, from https://www.fws.gov/southeast/wildlife/mammals/florida-panther/.

Exploring the Dark Side of the Wildcat Trade: A Conversation with Tim Harrison

Exploring the Dark Side of the Wildcat Trade: A Conversation with Tim Harrison

Join us as Tim Harrison, author, Director of “Outreach For Animals“, and star of two award-winning documentaries, discusses how he protects the public while advocating for a better life for exotic animals. He is joined with Mountain Lion Foundation’s own Jessica Janson.

About Tim Harrison:

Tim Harrison is a retired police officer, firefighter and paramedic for Oakwood, Ohio. Tim’s dedication to protecting the public crossed paths with the world of animal advocacy in October 2011 when Terry Thompson released 50 of the world’s most exotic animals on his hometown in Zanesville, Ohio and then took his own life. Thus began Tim’s crusade to educate and protect the public, while advocating for a better life for exotic animals.

Tim is the director of Outreach For Animals, a non-profit 501c(3) organization founded in 2001 by a group of police officers, firefighters, and paramedics whose mission is to educate young people to respect wildlife and its natural habitat. Over the years, their message has reached millions of people through all forms of media and outreach programs. The organization is committed to being the goodwill ambassador and liaison between humans and animals.

Tim is the star of two award-winning documentaries, The Elephant in the Living Room, which shines a light on the world of private exotic animal ownership, including the plight of several backyard lions, and The Conservation Game. The Conservation Game is set against the backdrop of a heated national debate on captive big cats in America, and follows Tim, who makes a bombshell discovery while undercover at an exotic animal auction.

Tim is also the author of three books including his newest, White Magic: The Curse of The White Tiger, which takes an in depth look at the myth surrounding the white tiger and an exploitative trade that endangers all wildcats.

Tim has rescued, relocated and advocated for exotic animals in the United States for over 47 years.

View information about The Conservation Game

End Federal Subsidies for States’ War on Carnivores, Move to Disqualify States from Federal Aid for Excessive Killing

For Immediate Release: Monday, September 27, 2021

Contact: 

Debra Chase, CEO, Mountain Lion Foundation
DChase@mountainlion.org
916-442-2666 ext. 103

End Federal Subsidies for States’ War on Carnivores

Move to Disqualify States from Federal Aid for Excessive Killing

 

Sacramento, CA —State game agencies could lose a substantial portion of their budgets for eradicating populations of mountain lions and other carnivores under a proposal put forward by the a coalition including the Global Indigenous Council (GIC), Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), the Center for Biological Diversity, Mountain Lion Foundation, and a coalition of 25 Native American, conservation, and animal welfare organizations. The plan would deny federal wildlife management funding to states that excessively target wolves, cougars, bears, and other carnivores.

“In the midst of the sixth great extinction, we can no longer shut our eyes or run away from the problems our natural world is experiencing,” says Debra Chase, CEO of the Mountain Lion Foundation. “We need decisive action now to modernize the Pittman-Robertson Act and state agencies’ handling of mountain lions and other carnivores. It’s unethical and immoral for states to profit from the exploitation and extinction of our wildlife. If Secretary Haaland acts on our petition, this new rule will hold states accountable to the public they serve and the wildlife they are committed to protect when they ignore sound science and seek to profit by inflating population count and undercounting killings of our carnivores.”

Since the removal of federal Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves, states across the country have expanded controversial carnivore control programs that have long also been used against mountain lions, including trophy hunting, hunting contests, and trapping, without regard for maintaining sustainable populations or the integrity of ecosystems.

The coalition’s rule-making petition calls on Secretary of Interior Deb Haaland to adopt regulations making states ineligible to receive grants under the Pittman-Robertson Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration and Sport Fish Restoration Acts if they allow hunting and trapping at levels that compromise healthy populations of wildlife, including carnivores. That condition is currently required under law but without an enforcement mechanism – a hole this petition would fill.

Under this proposal, Secretary Haaland, following public comment, would decide if a state applying for a federal grant is pursuing wildlife management practices inconsistent with the national goal of naturally diverse wildlife populations and healthy predator-prey dynamics.

This federal aid constitutes a significant portion of state game agency budgets across the country.  This year, approximately $1 billion in federal aid was funneled to state game agency coffers.

The petition is a reaction to recent actions in states such as Alaska, Idaho, Montana, and Wisconsin to, in essence, declare open season on wolves. In addition, the petition targets practices such as use of dogs to hunt mountain lions and bears, baiting and snaring of bears, “judas” wolf collaring, shooting bears, wolves, and their young in dens, aerial spotting for land-and-shoot removals, and nighttime hunting with artificial lights.

Groups sponsoring the petition are: GIC, PEER, and the Center for Biological Diversity, Humane Society of the US, The Native Conservancy, The 06 Legacy, Alaskans for Wildlife, Attorneys for Animals, Footloose Montana, Friends of the Clearwater, Global International Council, United Tribes, Mountain Lion Foundation, National Wolfwatcher Coalition, Oasis Earth, Predator Defense, Project Coyote, Project Eleven Hundred, Protect Our Wildlife, Sierra Club-Toiyabe Chapter, Southwest Environmental Center, The Endangered Species Coalition, The International Wildlife Coexistence Network,  The Rewilding Institute, Washington Wildlife First, Western Wildlife Outreach, Wildearth Guardians, Western Watersheds Project, Wyoming Wildlife Advocates, and Professor Adrian Treves of the University of Wisconsin.

###

Read the rule-making petition
https://www.peer.org/letter-to-secretary-haaland-pittman-robertson-wolves-09-24-2021-pdf/

Sign on to the letter of public support
https://mountainlion.org/2021/09/30/tell-secretary-haaland-no-state-funds-for-carnivore-slaughter/

Note $1 billion federal aid contribution this year to state game agencies
https://www.fws.gov/news/ShowNews.cfm?ref=$1-billion-sent-to-state-wildlife-agencies-bolstering-conservation-&_ID=36849

Look at state-by-state breakdown of federal aid to game agencies
http://ti.org/sfwdata.htm

Founded in 1986, the Mountain Lion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with a mission to ensure that America’s lion survives and flourishes in the wild.

####

Statements from Leaders of Signatory Groups

The 06 Legacy, karol@the06legacy.com

“For too long, states in the Northern Rockies have directed dollars meant for conservation to the slaughter of America’s iconic predators. This rule will give us a chance to end the misuse of Pittman-Robertson dollars.” – Karol Miller, President, The 06 Legacy

Attorneys for Animals, beefriedlander@yahoo.com

“When states try to unleash trappers and hunters on wolves, this rule will enable us to raise our concerns in Washington and pressure authorities to change course.” – Bee Friedlander, J.D., President, Attorneys for Animals

Center for Biological Diversity, cadkins@biologocaldiersity.org

“Federal officials must stop ignoring the use of conservation funding by anti-wolf states to slaughter ecologically important carnivores. Federal wildlife management funds should only be given to states that can be trusted to conserve their wildlife for all Americans.” – Collette Adkins, carnivore conservation program director at the Center for Biological Diversity.

 

Endangered Species Coalition, tthorton@endangered.com

“Anti-wolf hysteria driven by special interests is threatening gray wolves like never before. This rule will give us a powerful tool to fight back by airing our concerns before states receive their Pittman-Robertson wildlife funding.” – Tara Thornton, Deputy Director, Endangered Species Coalition

Footloose Montana, loxodonta66@gmail.com

“Alarmingly, wildlife management in western states is moving toward colonial-era violence. Profiteers driving the commercialization and privatization of wildlife are outfitters, commercial trappers, trophy hunters and landowners including governors, legislators and fish and wildlife agencies. In this new world of wildlife management, bounties are paid to hunters and trappers by private organizations for each wolf killed, trophy hunters pay enormous sums to kill a wolf, a bear, an elk– the Safari Club International-style–absent any ethics and without concern for the impact on species, the torture by snares and traps or the health of ecosystems.” – Anja Heister, PhD, co-founder and board member of Footloose Montana, a Missoula-based nonprofit organization promoting trap-free public lands for people, pets and wildlife.

Heister adds, “The North American Model of Wildlife Conservation, which has been a protective shield for ‘sportsmen,’ has shown to be impotent in preventing extremists among them–thrill killers and predator haters–from hijacking state wildlife management, while cutting out the public from decision-making on wild animals.”

Global Indigenous Council, (703) 980-4595

“These wolf extermination bills passed and signed into law by rightwing extremists at the state level demonstrate that they are not only hunting democracy to extinction, they are also conflating Euro-Medieval sadism with so-called wildlife management to the same ends with wolves.” – Rain, Executive Director of the GIC and acclaimed film director.

Oasis Earth, richard.steiner@gmail.com

“Apex predators are vital to the health of ecosystems across America. This proposed rule will require the Interior Secretary to ensure that all state wildlife agencies receiving federal Pittman Robertson wildlife restoration funds fully protect these species.” – Rick Steiner, Director, Oasis Earth

Predator Defense, brooks@predatordefense.org

“States have been steadily pushing gray wolves back towards extinction since delisting in 2011,” said Brooks Fahy, executive director of Predator Defense. “With this rule we can keep the federal government from helping states kill wolves with funds specifically meant to help wildlife.”

Project Coyote, mlute@projectcoyote.org

“States have consistently demonstrated that they are beholden to a client service model catering to a declining demographic that focuses on consumptive uses over all other values for wildlife. In the face of climate and biodiversity crises, state wildlife policy needs to align with evidence-based conservation goals and broader public values. These excellent amendments to the Pittman-Robertson Act are a momentous step in the right direction.” – Michelle L. Lute, PhD, National Carnivore Conservation Manager, Project Coyote

Project Eleven Hundred, maryobrien10@gmail.com

“The work of state public land managers has implications for all wildlife — including pollinators. This rule will help ensure that funding decisions are based on science and consider direct and indirect consequences for diverse species.” – Mary O’Brien, PhD, Executive Director, Project Eleven Hundred

Protect Our Wildlife, info@protectourwildlifevt.org

“These regulations will ensure that Vermont’s leaders are held accountable for allowing trappers to maim and kill wildlife with weapons that have been banned elsewhere. Protect Our Wildlife urges Secretary Haaland to adopt the proposed rule.” – Brenna Galdenzi, President, Protect Our Wildlife

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, jruch@peer.org

“A healthy predator-prey relationship is necessary for healthy wildlife populations as a whole. No state, including Alaska, should receive millions of dollars in federal wildlife restoration aid each year, while they continue ecologically destructive efforts to severely reduce or eliminate populations of wolves, bears, coyotes, and mountain lions.” – Rick Steiner, a PEER Board member, conservation specialist, and retired University of Alaska professor.

Sierra Club, Toiyabe Chapter, brian.beffort@sierraclub.org

“Predators are integral parts of healthy ecosystems. Nevada and the Eastern Sierra need science-based, participatory wildlife management to maintain predators’ essential roles. This rule will help us secure that management.” – Brian Beffort, Director, Sierra Club Toiyabe Chapter

Southwest Environmental Center, kevin@wildmesquite.org

“The taxpayer-funded, state-sanctioned slaughter of predators must end. Under this rule, states will have to consider science and the voices of the vast majority of the public who oppose killing wolves – or risk losing their Pittman-Robertson dollars.” – Kevin Bixby, Executive Director, Southwest Environmental Center

Western Watersheds Project, emolvar@westernwatersheds.org

“The Biodiversity Crisis is one of the main problems facing our planet, and our own species, yet there are state agencies and legislatures that are pursuing anti-wildlife policies that are making it worse,” said Erik Molvar, a wildlife biologist and Executive Director of Western Watersheds Project. “If states are going to participate in wildlife-killing programs or push extinction agendas for species like wolves and prairie dogs that they find economically inconvenient, then they should absolutely be denied federal funding.”

Western Wildlife Outreach, lynn@westernwildlife.org

“Western Wildlife Outreach supports the GIC and PEER Petition for Rulemaking. Rulemaking will ensure states receiving Pittman Robertson Wildlife Restoration funds are determined to be eligible through a review of their wildlife management practices and consideration of input from public stakeholders. Responsible state stewardship of wildlife, particularly predators, must be evident.” – Lynn Okita, Board Chair, Western Wildlife Outreach

Wildearth Guardians, llarris@wildearthguardians.org

Pittman-Robertson dollars are intended to support wildlife and the ecosystems they call home. The state-led war on carnivores is the antithesis of conservation and should not be fueled by funds earmarked for wildlife preservation. – Lindsay Larris, Wildlife Program Director, WildEarth Guardians

Wyoming Wildlife Advocates, kristin@wyomingwildlifeadvocates.org

“Wyoming continues to allow for the killing of nearly half of their wolves each year and only manages for the minimum number of the species, not for healthy or biodiverse ecosystems. For the state to continue to receive federal grants, they need to think more holistically about large carnivore management. One hundred and sixty wolves for 97,000 square miles is not a sustainable population.” – Kristin Combs, Executive Director, Wyoming Wildlife Advocates

Independent Scientist

“The global scientific community long ago reached consensus that competing interests hold back the progress of science because special interests pay for research that burnishes their images not for better approximations of reality. To reform the current U.S. system of financing most wildlife research, we should create a firewall between special interests in wildlife, such as the hunting industry, and the funding of wildlife research. That task begins with reform of PR funding mechanisms.” – Prof. Adrian Treves, PhD, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Wisconsin – Madison, atreves@wisc.edu

Mountain lion shot and killed in Tucson, Arizona

Last Friday, a young male mountain lion was shot by a resident of Tucson, Arizona. The man found his dogs barking at the lion in his backyard, and claims that it charged him. Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD) officials determined this to be a legal act of self-defense. They found the mountain lion, still alive, approximately a mile away from the scene. Officials decided to euthanize the young lion due to the severity of his injuries.

Tucson residents are well-accustomed to the presence of mountain lions in the area, with sightings documented as recently as just a few weeks prior. Under agency policy, mountain lions found to be a potential threat to human safety, such as due to behavior or location, are to be killed.

Beloved Beasts: a Conversation with Author Michelle Nijhuis

Beloved Beasts: a Conversation with Author Michelle Nijhuis

In the late nineteenth century, humans came at long last to a devastating realization: their rapidly industrializing and globalizing societies were driving scores of animal species to extinction. In Beloved Beasts, acclaimed science journalist Michelle Nijhuis traces the history of the movement to protect and conserve other forms of life. From early battles to save charismatic species such as the American bison and bald eagle to today’s global effort to defend life on a larger scale, Nijhuis’s “spirited and engaging” account documents “the changes of heart that changed history” (Dan Cryer, Boston Globe).

As the destruction of other species continues and the effects of climate change wreak havoc on our world, Beloved Beasts charts the ways conservation is becoming a movement for the protection of all species, including our own.

About Michelle Nijhuis:

Michelle Nijhuis is the author of the new book Beloved Beasts: Fighting for Life in an Age of Extinction. She is a project editor for The Atlantic and a longtime contributing editor for High Country News, and her reporting has appeared in publications including National Geographic and the New York Times Magazine. After 15 years off the electrical grid in rural Colorado, she and her family now live in southwestern Washington state.

Mountain lion incident near Calabasas, California

At the end of August, a young mountain lion was killed after attacking a child in a yard near Calabasas, CA. The child’s mother responded well, quickly driving away the mountain lion and bringing in police and officers from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, who tracked and killed the cub.

In a horrific and tragic situation, mixed with our grief for the injured child and the community’s fear, we’re grateful that events resolved almost as well as they could have. The child is reportedly recovering well. After finding and killing the attacking lion, officers continued searching and located its mother and a sibling. Thanks to the careful and responsible approach of law enforcement, those mountain lions were captured unharmed. When no evidence was found that they had harmed a person, they were set free at a location farther from people.

This is the first mountain lion attack on person in Los Angeles County since 1995. With an endangered population of around 5-10 mountain lions in the Santa Monica Mountains, there’s no doubt that they often come close to people. Each moves through a territory of 50 square miles, usually without anyone knowing they were in the presence of this wide-ranging and secretive neighbor. The lion killed in this case was young, still learning how to behave, and suffered the ultimate consequence for its unfortunate choice. Its sibling and mother had already learned to avoid people, and thanks to the careful work by state and federal wildlife officials, they are free to continue living as mountain lions should.

As more Californians move closer to nature, people and cougars will cross paths more often. Mountain lions have always been in our yards, but doorbell cameras, security systems, and trail cameras are revealing how often mountain lions cruise through our neighborhoods. Discovering our mountain lion neighbors shouldn’t be cause for fear. Their presence is a reminder that our homes are built where mountain lions and their kin have roamed for millions of years, and one sign of the health of the wilderness we see out our windows.

After centuries of treating carnivores as enemies to be killed on sight — the policy and attitude that left our state bereft of the bears that grace our flag — wild places are recovering. While some mountain lion populations are under consideration for state endangered species listing, other populations in the state are recovering from the indiscriminate slaughter of an earlier era. Maintaining healthy populations of mountain lions benefits us all. Healthy forests need carnivores, and healthy forests are more resilient to wildfires and the effects of climate change. Carnivores keep diseased deer and elk from infecting their herds, protecting the health of their prey. And since deer fearful of mountain lions avoid venturing too far into the open, mountain lions help protect our orchards, farms, and gardens.

All of this may be cold comfort to a family and a community recovering from last month’s shocking events. Some may even question the wisdom of coexisting with mountain lions, while others will ask how we can better protect our families.

In part, we can take comfort in knowing that mountain lions far prefer their wild prey — mostly deer, but also rabbits, squirrels, feral pigs, raccoons, and coyotes. With thousands of mountain lions in California, we know of only 20 attacks on humans in the last 35 years. More Californians have been killed by lightning strikes in the same time period. Most risky interactions with humans, including last month’s, happen when a younger lion mistakes a human for the food they want. Older mountain lions generally avoid people, our pets, and livestock. Research in California and elsewhere shows that hunting mountain lions, for recreation or in retaliation for threats to people or livestock, tends to make future conflicts more likely, by removing experienced older lions and leaving room for callow and riskier youngsters.

We can and do co-exist with mountain lions, as humans have in California since time immemorial. The alternative to this coexistence, and the risks it brings with it, is a return to the archaic policy of bounty hunting and wanton slaughter. Those disastrous policies wiped out mountain lion populations everywhere east of the Mississippi except Florida. In a handful of rural counties in the West, adherents to the fringe philosophies made famous by the violent takeover of Malheur Wildlife Refuge in Oregon are attempting to resurrect those dangerous and discredited approaches. But elsewhere in mountain lions’ range, from the tip of Patagonia to the Yukon, people and mountain lions are finding better ways to live together.

There is still much we can do to protect mountain lions. Thousands are killed by hunters across the West each year. Many more are killed by livestock owners who wrongly believe those deaths will prevent further conflict. Many mountain lions, including the Santa Monica Mountain population, cut off by highways from neighboring populations, and as a result face the danger of inbreeding. As houses and roads encroach on the mountain lions’ lands, and climate change and wildfire disrupt the remaining wilderness, they are left with less room to pursue their wild prey and raise their cubs far from humans. Outside of Florida, the species lacks legal protections, but this could change soon in California. The state is considering listing some of the species’ populations as endangered or threatened, a crucial step to ensure their safety now and in the future.

###

Josh Rosenau is a biologist and Conservation Advocate for the Mountain Lion Foundation.

Letter: CPW needs to end mountain lion hunts

Letter: CPW needs to end mountain lion hunts

Of all the outdoor adventures I have experienced in more than four decades traversing Colorado, my solo encounter with a mountain lion last year on a trail a few miles south of Hot Sulphur Springs ranks at the top of the list.

The big cat and I locked eyes and exchanged pleasantries for several seconds before he (or she) graciously stepped off the trail and trotted nobly into the scrub. It was an exhilarating few moments with a rarely seen cougar, the proverbial “phantom of the forest.”

Courtesy: Jason Klassi

Unfortunately, my fond memory has since been overshadowed by the fear that the glorious wild animal that I encountered may well have been shot to death by now for no better reason than the gratification of a trophy hunter. Sadly, Colorado Parks and Wildlife allows annual cougar “harvests” even though surveys clearly show that most Coloradans oppose trophy hunting of mountain lions as well as other wild cats.

Trophy hunting of cougars serves no legitimate wildlife management purpose. Indeed, scientific studies show clearly that killing of cougars threatens not only the big cats but also has a negative trickle-down effect on non-targeted species in the wildlife chain.

Trophy killing usually entails unleashing dogs to chase down and tree an exhausted and terrified cat before shooting it to death. Whether such an action can be called “hunting” is doubtful, but there is no doubt that it cannot be called “sporting.” For this reason, surveys have shown, most legitimate hunters in Colorado oppose trophy hunting as well as trapping of wild cats.

In the next round of hunting review CPW should follow the science as well as ethical behavior and eliminate the senseless and destructive policy of allowing trophy killing of cougars. Indiscriminate killing has no place in any legitimate “management plan” of wild cat populations in Colorado and throughout the American West.

— Walter Lawrence Hixson, Akron, Ohio

Reposted from:  https://www.skyhinews.com/letter-to-the-editor/letter-cpw-needs-to-end-mountain-lion-hunts/

Utah Wildlife Board approves excessive 2021-22 hunt recommendations

For immediate release

Date:  August 26, 2021

Contact:  
Debra Chase, CEO, Mountain Lion Foundation
DChase@mountainlion.org
916-442-2666 ext. 103

Utah Wildlife Board approves excessive 2021-22 hunt recommendations

Salt Lake City, UT – Utah’s newly approved hunting targets for mountain lions are excessive and unsustainable, according to an analysis by conservation advocates. The Utah Wildlife Board voted Thursday to allow unlimited cougar hunting in most of the state, and to place harvest limits elsewhere. During the 2020-21 cougar hunting season, a record 702 kills by hunters and Wildlife Services were reported by the Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR).

“Allowing trophy hunters to kill so many of our cougars is not only unsustainable, it is not good management, and does not support the DWR’s mission of serving the people of Utah as “trustee and guardian of the state’s protected wildlife,” stated Denise Peterson, Conservation Advocate for the Mountain Lion Foundation and resident of Utah. She continued, “The majority of Utahans do not support the killing of the state’s lions to appease a small handful of wildlife stakeholders and it is high time that management decisions reflect this reality.”

Under the plan, 33 of the 53 cougar hunting units will allow unlimited year-round harvest and have a goal of >40% female harvest. For the remaining 20 cougar hunt units, DWR recommended that hunters be permitted to kill up to 297 cougars. The policy allows a single hunter to kill up to 2 cougars per year, but does not allow the killing of cougars that have been collared by researchers statewide.

According to DWR, a record number of cougars were killed by hunters and Wildlife Services during the 2020-21 season: 702 documented mortalities. The Mountain Lion Foundation estimates, based on available suitable habitat and the solitary nature of cougars, suggests that the state may be home to around 1,600 adult-aged mountain lions. DWR estimated in 2019 that the state has 70% more lions: 2,700 individuals. DWR’s inflated population estimates were used to justify the high hunting quotas approved by the Wildlife Board.

“I worry that these excessive hunting limits will only increase conflicts between lions and domestic animals, and do little to achieve management goals of boosting big game species like mule deer and bighorn sheep,” says MLF’s Peterson. “Cougars continue to get the blame for mule deer and bighorn sheep declines, but there are many other factors that influence deer and sheep survival, including drought and lack of quality forage. Studies have even shown that hunting disrupts cougar social structures and increases conflicts with livestock and predation on declining prey.”

If you want to support our efforts or get involved in Utah, visit MountainLion.org.

Founded in 1986, the Mountain Lion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with a mission to ensure that America’s lion survives and flourishes in the wild.