The California Department of Fish has recommended a state of emergency for the approximately 1,400 mountain lions that roam the central coast and California, citing threats from freeways, rodenticides and wildfires.
The determination, released Wednesday, is not the final word but it does indicate whether several groups of cougars will be listed under the California Endangered Species Act.
Supporters say they will give endangered species a chance to recover, but opponents argue they will make it harder to eradicate lions that pose a safety risk to people and livestock.
The recommendation was “a long time coming,” Charlton Bonham, director of the state Department of Wildlife, said during a California Fish and Game Commission meeting.
It’s been almost six years since the Center for Biodiversity and the Mountain Lion Ingredient that the Commission considered the listing of lion populations that have suffered declines from traffic, poisoning with rodenticides and encroachment by development.
The following year, in 2020, the commission found that the request could be approved, giving the lions a temporary protected status as an “election” for listing. It also indicated that the Department of State Wildlife must compile a report to inform the Commission’s final decision.
The next step is for Corelife Animal Welfare to vote on the recommendation, possibly in February.
Brendan Cummings, director of the Conservation Center for Rheological Diversity, acknowledged the moment as “a good day, not for mountain lions, but for Californians.”
If the commissioners accept the recommendation, as he believes they will, then “the final list of species removes any uncertainty about the status of the state, which is beloved and much loved by part of California.”
The report recommends listing the lions “where they mainly meet” what opponents have requested, including the Santa Ana, San Gabriel, San Bernardino, Santa Monica, Santa Cruz and Tehachapi Mountains.
It determines the small parts on the northern and eastern borders of what is proposed, including high-level lands in the western part and part of the desert – places where there were no lions.
Authorities in the report note that most of the lion groups proposed in the list are struggling with a lack of gene flow because urban barriers keep them from reaching each other.
In southern California, lions have shown no damage from exposure, including well-developed tails and suspended sperm. There is about a 1 in 4 chance, according to the study, that mountain lions could disappear from Santa Monica and Santa Ana Mountain within 50 years.
Towards the end of P-22 – the celeb Mountain Lion built by Griffith Park – reinforced the plight of its kind. Rat poisoning and car crashes he hit her inside. He was captivated and inspired in late 2022, it is considered too sick to return to the wild due to injury and infection.
For some types, protection comes in the form of stop chains or bulldozers. But tamed lions, Cummings says, need their habitats to be held together in a wildlife-like manner — like the gargantuan one built above the 101 freeway in Agoura Hills. He added that developments that could hinder their movement should be considered more.
Critics of the lion’s share listing efforts said it would remain residential and commercial projects.
California is home to about 4,170 mountain lions, according to a recent report, but not all are equal in their struggle.
Most of the meat population, especially in the west coast forests, is healthy and healthy.
Protection is not what those cats want. Others, in fact, would like to see their numbers dwindle amid some high-profile controversies.
Bonham, director of the Department of Fish and Wildlife, spoke of public safety concerns at a recent meeting, referring to the tragic death of a young man after being mauled by a Cougar last year in northern California.
“These are really serious issues and the conversation that I know in the coming years will have to deal with all of that,” said Bonham, who will step down this month after nearly 15 years in the role.
The California Lions already enjoy some protection. In 1990, voters approved a measure that recognized “specially protected species” and banned them from sporting events.
