CALIFORNIA - Mountain Lion Foundation

A mountain lion's best friend
Board Profile: Margaret W Owings, the inspiration behind the fight
F
rom the lofty perch of her home,
located some 500 feet above the
crashing Pacific surf near Big Sur,
Board Chair Margaret W Owings continues
to prove that one individual can make a
difference.
For over 40 years Margaret has spearheaded
action on conservation issues that
have resulted in protection for California's
mountain lions, sea lions, sea otters and
preservation of lands that represent the
unique diversity found in California.
Margaret's story is one of an individual
who has never hesitated to use her voice,
her pen or her paintbrush in the fight to
save the wild places and wild creatures that
have meant the most to her.
A noted artist and writer it is for her
work in conservation and wildlife protection
that she is perhaps best known.
Margaret has played a critical role in the
26-year-long battle to ensure protection for
California's mountain lions. Her passion
for the issue was stirred by an occurance
that happened not far from her home.
Margaret had long enjoyed seeing
mountain lion tracks and hearing the lion's
curious whistle near her home. Part of the
privilege of living in Big Sur was being
able to enjoy a shared environment with
such a magnificent and secretive neighbor.
It was in 1962 that a mountain lion was
treed and killed near her home. When
Margaret saw the photograph of the proud
hunter collecting his $100 bounty check
beaming at the fine young male lion he had
killed, she was determined that that lion
would not die in vain.
She quickly applied the same political
skills that she had leamed several years earlier
in her successful campaign to save the
sea lions living along the California coast
from hunters. She went directly to Senator
Fred Farr of Carmel and asked him to draw
up a bill to stop the bounty.
In Margaret's own words it was "mutiny
on the bounty" during a long legislative
battle that finally brought an end to bounty
payments for mountain lions in the summer
of 1963. During the bounty period, 1907 to
1963, over 12,400 lions were killed.
Unfortunately, the battle was far from
over. The mountain lion was now a non-
Ir was a photo similar to this one that inspired Margaret W Owings to take action in 1962 to stop
bounty payments for lions.
Page 2
protected animal and could be shot at random.
In 1969 the Department of Fish and
Game classified the mountain lion as a big
game animal supposedly to "stop the indiscriminate
killing of lions" but their sale of
50 cent tags allowed hunters to kill as many
lions as they wanted, whenever and wherever
they liked. The season on mountain
lions was open year-round.
By this time, public awareness of the
mountain lion issue was increasing. Several
organizations and many people involved
in wildlife protection had joined together
to protect California's lions. Political
and public pressure to protect lions was
mounting. Finally, in 1972, a moratorium
on the trophy hunting of mountain lions
which allowed adequate protection for livestock
was passed.
Over a sixteen year period Margaret
continued to be instrumental in ensuring
that mountain lions received the protection
they deserved. When in 1986, due to political
pressure from the NRA, Governor
Deukmejian vetoed legislation extending
the trophy hunting moratorium, Margaret
joined the Foundation's board to help gain
permanent protection for lions once and for
all.
Truly Margaret Owings is an inspiration
for the fight to preserve California's last
great predator, the magnificent mountain
lion. She has been the backbone and the
inspiration for the Foundation's efforts to
assure that the mountain lion is permanently
protected. It is exciting to see that after
twenty-six years of fighting the mountain
lion may finally win that protection.
Her lifetime of dedication to speaking
out against the senseless slaughter of mountain
lions is living proof that one individual
can make a difference. California's mountain
lions, all of us and future generations
can all be thankful that in 1962 Margaret
made up her mind that the bountied lion
killed near her home would not die in vain.
- Laurie 1. Martin

And the winners are.....
The majestic beauty and elusive nature of the mountain lion have
long enchanted artists and over the last few years artists and photographers
have contacted us wanting to donate their creative energies
to the Foundation. Due to this incredible response and our need to
use mountain lion artwork for educational and promotional materials
we have just sponsored our first annual Mountain Lion Art and Photography
Contest!
Judging and a reception were held in Sacramento on April 19.
Prizes ranged from a river trip for two to a sterling silver mountain
lion pin to an autographed book by Peter Matthiessen. We would like
to thank all of our many entrants and to congratulate the winners.
FIRST
SECOND
THIRD
""OURTH
ART
Sallie Zydek
Jacquin Marie Vaux
Karen Brackstone-Fryer
Judy Wilmot
FIRST
PHOTOGRAPHY
SECOND
THIRD
Mark Davidson
Dee Dollinger
Dee Dollinger
First place photo - Mark Dal'idsoll
"A mountain lion's track, the size ofa man's closed fist, pressed on
the dusty road near the mailbox - or the curious whistle from this great
animal, softly communicating with one ofits kin deep in the shadows by
the running stream below our house. These moments touch the quick!
For many years I have been privileged to live in lion country with its
overwhelming sense ofthe sea below, the dry scent ofsage and chaparral
on the sun-bleached slopes, the knolls ofbay trees and the dark hush of
redwood canyons. These secretive cats with the golden-green eyes also
know this world thoroughly and patrol each rocky outcropping and each
canyon wall more intensively and more intimately than we can conceive.
Thus, Big Sur is a shared world, although many are totally unaware that
this lion can live harmoniously but shyly in close proximity to man."
From The Lion in Monterey County
Margaret W Owings
Foundation Board Chair

Foundation research pounces on myths
Report from Foundation Ecologist, Dr Lynne Trulio
A
t last, two major research
projects, conducted over the
past six months, are reaching
their completion. The first project
involved the help of over 30 research
scientists from around the country,
while the second includes research
undertaken by university students.
Both projects have produced exciting
results that refute many of the longtime
myths surrounding mountain lion
behavior.
Last September, the first study was
designed and undertaken in response
to a need to determine what constitutes
good lion research. As in any sceintific
field, lion research is composed of both
good and questionable data.
For instance, there has been controversy
surrounding
Page 4
This lifesize mountain lion print was taken by Dr Carl Koford,
one ofCalifornia's earliest lion researchers, who used a quiet,
persistent approach oftracking which compares the size and
number ofpawprints found in a study area.
lion research methods used by the
California Department of Fish and
Game. Their use of population models
and depredation rates to estimate the
statewide lion population have drawn
fire from the Foundation and lion
researchers alike. Yet, there are no
specific scientific standards for judging
how accurate research should be undertaken
or how to interpret research for
making management decisions.
In order to determine what lion
scientists themselves think are the best,
most reliable methods for studying lion
ecology, I designed a "lion methodology"
survey. The survey asked researchers
what methods they recommended
for studying various aspects of
lion ecology including lion poplulation
sizes, population change, feeding habits,
and habitat needs. The response
rate to the survey was spectacular.
The results are both
surprising and instructive.
For example,
97% of respondents
felt that
depredation
rates could not
accurately provide
a statewidepopulation
number
and 87% felt that
depredation rates
alone could not indicate
a trend in
the population
growth.
Last December, as
the Foundation's
Ecologist, I presented
the initial
results of the survey
at an international
conference
of mountain lion
biologists. This was very exciting, as it
was the first mountain lion conference
the Foundation has attended.
The results were well received, and
the final data will be sent to all the
survey respondents as well as wildlife
administrators, policy-makers and others.
The purpose of the survey is to
increase awareness about the pros and
cons of lion research and to bring to
light the limitations of using research
data to make policy decisions on the
management of lions. A summary of
this survey is available for $5 a copy.
Since the beginning of the year we
have been working with university
students from around the state on our
second research project. Several
undergraduate and graduate student
interns have been conducting independent
research to help us understand
issues such as; human-lion interactions,
depredation policies in the western
states, and the reasons for deer population
declines in California.
The intern's findings on these various
topics were eye opening and helpful
in supporting the arguments for the
protection of California's mountain
lions. Their essays along with four
papers I have written will soon be
available to the public for $3 each.
These booklets are designed to
refute some of the common misconceptions
about lions - myths that paint
the lion as a threat to human safety, as
a major culprit in livestock loss, or as a
beast whose populations must be controlled
with hunting. Subjects explored
include essays on the population
and legal status of the lion in California,
the reasons trophy hunting of lior.
in our state is not acceptable, and the
special habitat threats faced by lions
and their primary prey, mule deer.
Continued on paRe 5

Volunteers needed
Volunteer support has been the key to our success from the beginning. There
are many ways you can become directly involved in the effort to protect
California's mountain lions. Here's how.....
• Represent California's mountain
lions at a fair or educational event in
your area.
• Rent or purchase a copy of our
video/slide presentation and have a
mountain lion event in your own home
or office. We will provide any additional
materials or information.
• Call and/or meet with your local
officials. We will provide you with
names of elected officials in your area.
• Refer names of friends interested
in protecting mountain lions to the
Foundation.
Wish list
• Desk Calculator with Tape
Print-out
• Miscellaneous Office Supplies
• Scientific Statistical Software
• IBM Personal Computer or
Compatible Clone
• All donations are tax-deductible·
• Donate the use of your cougar artwork
or photography.
• Call our hotline numbers and help
volunteer in your area.
Los Angeles: Marla Morrissey
(213) 457-LION
San Diego: Bob Porec
(619) 281-3418
San Francisco: Shari Love
(415) 626-9186
Berkeley: Tim Kellogg
(415) 526-4839
Marin County: Karol Raymer
(415) 381-1468
Information Kim Klein
(916) 442-2666
• Telephone Answering Machine
• Portable VCR Machine (VHS)
• Blank 5 1/4" Floppy Disks
• Self-contained Portable Slide
Projector with Screen
Mountain Lion Preservation Foundation
P.O.Box 1896
Sacramento, CA 95809
Address correction requested
Recycled Paper
)
To the more than 15,000 dedicated
people who wrote to the Fish and
Game Commission this February opposing
a 1989 trophy hunting season.
Sheri and Bob Bell, Sandy Carlock,
Janice Clark, Mark Davidson,
Shirley Finster, Tim Kellogg,
Shari Love, Marla Morrissey, Karol
Raymer, Scott Wood, Rudy Zehntner.
Special thanks to the following
groups for their commitment to
the mountain lion issue and for
helping to underwrite this newsletter.
Animal Protection Institute
PO Box 22505
Sacramento, CA 95822
Defenders of Wildlife (
1244 19th St, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036
Fund for Animals
12548 Ventura Blve, Suite 141
Studio City, CA 91604
Marin Humane Society
171 Bell Marin Keys
Novato, CA 94949
PAWS
Elsa Wild Fund
Animal Legal Defense Fund
Non-Profit Org.
U.S. Postage
PAID
Permit #38
Sacramento. CA