1987 Fall - Mountain Lion Foundation

Seplember1987
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
MllTga;et Owings
President
Hon. William Newsom,
Northern California
Vice President
Rabbi Ja;eph Hurwitz,
Southern California
Vice President
Bill Yeates,
Secretary
Scott Hennessey,
Treasurer
lise Byrnes
Hon. Frtd Farr
Dr. Alan Rabinowitz
Dr. George SclJaIler
Susan de Treville
Gretchen Wyler
Dirt.CtoT,
Sharon Negri
Production: Manette Be1livttlu
Illustration: MiJcL Kowalski
Design/Production: o.itlin Rivers
Editor: Sharon Negri
MOUNTA1N l10N
THE CALIFORNIA COUGAR NEWS
The Foundation Continues
Efforts to Protect Lions
The overwhelming pUblic support
for protecting mountain lions
provides the Foundation with
the challenge and opportunity
to influence future decisions
that will lead to the long-term
preservation of California's
magnificent symbol of wilderness
and natural heritage.
The Foundation has already
developed short and long-range
plans for protecting mountain
lions that entail: 1) stopping
the hunting season before it
begins, 2) developing new
educational programs, and 3)
developing a proposal to
conduct a 5-year independent
mountain lion study in
California that will contribute
to a better understanding of
lions and their habitat needs.
By filing a lawsuit to stop the
hunting season, the Foundation
has already stepped in to halt
conJinued onpage 6
the senseless destruction of
190 mountain lions. (see
Lawsuit) Saving mountain lions
for future generations to come,
however, means more than merely
stopping the hunting season for
this year - it means getting to
the real heart of the problem
by addressing the myths,
anecdotal stories, and traditional
management practices
that have plagued the mountain
lion for decades.
Right now the Foundation is
creating new educational
programs to eliminate those age
old myths, such as mountain
lion populations are increasing;
mountain lions are a major
cause of livestock loss and
deer population declines; and
mountain lions are a serious
threat to pUblic safety. New
slideshow/video presentations,
brochures, and a children's
program will seek to eliminate

Mountain Lion Preservation Foundation
Celebrating Our One Year
Anniversary
The Year's Highlights and Accomplishments
This month the Mountain Lion
Preservation Foundation
celebrates its one-year
anniversary. Aside from the
disappointing Fish & Game
Commission decision, the
Four.dation successfully made
the protection of California
mountain lions one of the
pUblic's top wildlife
concerns.
Reaching one million
Californians through the
media and testing whether the
pUblic was supportive of a
mountain lion trophy hunting
season was the Foundation's
primary effort after its
formation in September of
1986. In order to accomplish
this enormous task the
Foundation embarked on a
major Public Education and
Media campaign and hired the
expertise of McElroy
communications.
The tremendous success of the
campaign brought widespread
radio, newspaper, and
television support from
around the state. Over 29
major newspaper editorials
opposed the DFG's hunting
season and heavily criticized
its research. Virtually every
radio station from Eureka to
San Diego covered the issue.
Television commentaries in
every large urban center made
reference to the lunacy of
the DFG plan and urged them
to "scrap the idea."
with the help of the media,
millions of Californians
became aware that the trophy
hunting of lions was neither
justified by research or
necessary to protect
livestock or public safety.
The Los Angeles Times
summarized what thousands of
Californians felt and
pUblicly stated:
"... DFG experts say: "Sport hunting of
mountain lions cannot predictably reduce
livestock and domestic animal depredation
or predation on wildlife species such as
deer. Nor can it guarantee public safety .
.. The question, then boils down to this:
Do we know enough about the lion
population in California, and its ability to
survive a variety ofenvironmental
pressures, to permit 210 sportsmen to
track the cats with dogs until the winded
animals are cornered and shot? The
answer is no."
The Foundation also played a
vital role in providing key
testimony at the Commission
hearings. In February, after
the DFG recommended a
hunting season, the
Foundation called in mountain
lion experts and biologist
who spent countless hours
reviewing the data. Staff
and Board Members spent the
next 3 months summarizing the
problems, preparing
testimony, holding press
conferences, and traveling
around the state speaking to
groups, the media, and
concerned individuals.
Slideshows and brochures were
developed and distributed
statewide refuting the myths
about lions, correcting the
misconceptions about the
benefits of hunting, and
declaring the need to protect
California's last symbol of
wildness.
After being disillusioned
with the Department's
research, we brought in the
expertise of Dr. Hornocker to
2
develop a sound alternative
to the hunting season that is
still being pursued today.
The overwhelming public
opposition to the Fish & Game
Commission's decision to reopen
mountain lion trophy
hunting coupled with the lack
of sound data to warrant any
hunting season convinced the
Foundation to spearhead the
current lawsuit. The
Foundation is leading efforts
to raise the funds necessary
to carry out the suit. With
the generous support of 24
well known celebrities, an.ad
was placed in newspapers
around the state requesting
pUblic support to defray
costs of the lawsuit. AS'of
this date we have nearly
reached our goal.
The Foundation staff and
Board composed of nationally
acclaimed scientists, leading
state conservationists, and
pUblic figures, are proud of
the year's accomplishments to
protect California's most
majestic wildlife species.
The Foundation staff has
grown and now includes Sharon
Negri, Director; Manette
Belliveau, Office
Administrator; Peter Edwards,
part-time biologist, and
various consultants that help
carry out the public
education and research
programs.
The Foundation Board and
staff thank all of you who
have contributed to this
worthwhile effort and
acknowledge that the
Foundation would not be where
it is today without the
enormous support from our
donors.

Mountain Lion Preservation Foundation
Are Mountain Lions Really Varmits?
Are mountain lions a significant
threat to livestock and
wildlife? For years livestock
owners and hunters have
justified mountain lion hunting
as a way of controlling
the number of predators and
thereby reducing losses to
livestock and to deer populations.
But is this really
necessary and are mountain
lions really the problem?
DEER POPULATIONS DECLINES
The decline in deer populations
in recent years has
been of great concern to
many. The mountain lion,
however, is not the sole
problem as many hunters would
like us to believe, but
rather, is the result of many
factors.
For example, Department of
Fish and Game's deer studies
in 1976 concluded that the
loss of habitat and dwindling
food supplies were the major
reason for the drastic
decline in California's deer
popUlations. No study since
1976 has shown that this
situation has changed.
Deer are the primary prey for
mountain lions, and yet no
evidence shows that mountain
lions can suppress a healthy
deer herd. A study in the
North Kings Area in Fresno
County tried to prove that
mountain lions were supressing
the deer herds but other
experts from around the
country heavily criticized
the limited data base and
conclusions reached.
Interestingly, studies from
other states actually find
the opposite is true. A
long-term study in New Mexico
in which 575 does were radio
collared gave a mortality
rate of 19%, only three
percent of which was due to
IIAny glimpse into the life of an animal quickens our own and
makes it so much the larger and better in every way."
lions. Similarly, in 1949
half of the mountain lions
were removed from a test area
in Utah with no effect on the
deer popUlations. Finally,
two long-term studies in
Arizona concluded that deer
popUlations fluctuate
independent of the coexisting
mountain lion population.
Furthermore, the DFG claims
that twice as many deer are
killed illegally than legally
in this state amounting to
approximately 100,000
illegally killed deer annually.
It appears that human
encroachment and exploitation,
not the mountain lion,
is the more serious threat to
the declining deer
popUlation.
LIVESTOCK LOSSES
Mountain lion depredation
(lions killing livestock) is
not a serious problem to the
livestock industry, but can
be costly to individual
ranchers when it occurs.
According to a survey by
ranchers several years ago,
domestic and feral dogs were
identified as a greater
threat to their livestock
than mountain lions (65% as
opposed to 8%).
Many people are unaware that
laws exist, even during the
moratorium on mountain lion
hunting, that allow ranchers
to kill depredating mountain
4
John Muir
lions. Even in areas where
there are extensive problems,
since 1983 the DFG has had
the authority to develop
management plans to reduce
the number of lion attacks on
livestock.
One of the Department's
justifications for a lion
hunting season this year was
the rise in livestock losses·
due to lions. But is it as
serious a problem as they
claim?
No. The Department alleges
the 64 attacks in 1982 to 114
in 1986 is a reflection of
the rise in lion populations
and attacks over the last 16
years. What the DFG fails to
tell the public is that prior
to 1971 livestock owners had
no incentive to report livestock
loss due to mountain
lions. In fact they kept no
formal records prior to 1982.
Since that time, ranchers
have been encouraged to
report livestock losses due
to mountain lions and other
predators.
In addition, after the
Foundation reviewed the DFG's
depredation reports, these
poorly kept, often conflicting
records never supported
their claim that mountain
lion depredations are on an
increase. According to the
DFG's own reports, the number
actually decreased!
Before someone accuses the
mountain lion of being a
varmit, they need to take a
closer look at the facts.

Mountain Lion Preservation Foundation
U Few of us in this state have actually seen a mountain lion. But
the knawledge they are there, spectral and feral, gives meaning to
the remote land we must save. "
San Francisco Chronicle
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