LION KINGS
Hunters, ranchers, pet owners, hobby farmers, packers and old-timers fired their best shots but mostly missed their targets last Thursday, Oct. 10 during a public meeting on mountain lion management and, in many attendees’ eyes, mismanagement of the big cats in the Eastern Sierra.
Nine staffers from the Bishop office of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife absorbed the anger, suggestions and accusations and countered with a barrage of answers based on statistics, biology, mountain lion tracking data and field observations.
Most of the public comments centered on the perception that mountain lion populations are “out of control” and the cats are decimating populations of deer, rabbits, quail and chewing up domestic cats, goats, and sheep. Thus, DFW needs to “do something” to reduce mountain lion numbers by unleashing hunters to kill more lions, or capturing and relocating voracious mountain lions, or simply having DFW officers shoot and kill more “problem” mountain lions.
After two hours of questions and answers, here’s the bottom line: DFW will not be taking preemptive action to reduce the number of lions preying on wildlife, particularly deer, or to save anyone’s cat, chickens, goats or livestock from a mountain lion attack.
The reason DFW has been legislatively outgunned regarding mountain lions is California voters’ approval of Prop. 117 in 1990. That outlawed “sport hunting” of mountain lions and gave the big cats “specially protected” status. It did, however, allow DFG to issue “depredation permits” that allow livestock owners to kill lions preying on their stock. Irony Alert: Gov. Gavin Newsom’s dad, William, a state judge, was a primary driver of the initiative.
Because of that statute, “our hands are tied” when it comes to increasing mountain lion hunting, said Russell Black, DFW senior environmental scientist supervisor.
So, just unleashing more hunters on the big cats is off the table.
Killing mountain lions is still an option. It just involves some paperwork.
It is legal for people to kill a mountain lion to “defend life, health and property,” said Black. But there is a process. Lion attacks on livestock, for example, have to be reported to DFW. A “hazing” permit is issued, but if the mountain lion continues its attacks a “depredation permit” is issued allowing the cat to be killed, with the body presented to DFW.
As far as rampaging swarms of mountain lions chewing through the Eastern Sierra, DFW’s Phil Johnston said surveys and radio tracking show there are about 56 mountain lions roaming the Eastern Sierra from Sonora Pass to Coso Junction. The department put collars on 40 lions last year, he said, and routinely puts collars on between 40-80 lions a year, since the collars can be knocked off, batteries go dead, etc.
Regarding lions’ appetite for deer, Johnston said a mature mountain lion kills and eats about 35 deer a year. (That comes to about 2,000 deer meals a year in the Sierra.) Goats and sheep account for the most kills by mountain lions. Sheep herds probably appear like “a smorgasbord” to lions since “all their defensive instincts have been bred out of them,” Johnston said.
Females have a litter every two years and moms hunt for their cubs until they are up to two years old. Females’ “range” is between 80 and 200 square miles, said Johnston, with males roaming from 200 to 400 square miles.
Once established in a territory, lions have an uncanny ability to come back home. Take a lion from virtually anywhere in the Eastern Sierra and move him/her to another Eastern Sierra location and the cat will be back “home” in a day or two, he said.
There were several claims that mountain lions are also depleting populations of small game, rabbits in particular, and quail and other birds. A DFW scientist replied that a “hemorrhagic disease” has reduced the rabbit population in Inyo and Mono counties.
Drought and heavy winters have a larger role in limiting populations of game birds and other small animals than mountain lions, while more regular winters and water years can spark population increases.
The evening ended with notes from the fringe. Is Nevada dropping off bears on the California state line? That would be a firm “no.” Finally, for the second time, a woman who didn’t give her name, said DFW should relocate some mountain lions to the Mono Lake area so they can kill and eat the area’s wild horses, which she said would be a better solution than the planned wild horse roundup using helicopters and wranglers. The DFW staff offered rational reasons that won’t work and finally shot down the idea with a single blast: “No.”
Jon Klusmire of Bishop is always amazed that some Inyo County folks forget they live in California, probably the most liberal, massively regulated state in the US, especially when it comes to hunting and wildlife.
