IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Fitzhugh, E.L.; Anderson, A.E. | |
| Trends in lion mortality, western United States Abstracts Fifth Mountain Lion Workshop 27.02.-01.03., 1996 Bahia Hotel, San Diego, California | |
| 1996 Conference Proceeding | |
Mountain lions (Felis concolor) have received increased attention during the last 10 years, for four reasons; 1) lion populations seem to be increasing and they seem to be expanding their range into areas not recently used; 2) close encounters between lions and humans seem to be increasing, and attacks by lions on humans have increased during the last 10 years; 3) a large lawsuit was decided in favor of the plaintiff, who was attacked by a mountain lion in California, on the grounds that the country park where the attack occurred knew of the danger and failed to take appropriate action to warn or protect people; 4) anti-lion-hunting sentiment continues in some parts of our society, and political battles have occurred between hunters and anti-hunters during the last 10 years. All four of these situations could influence decisions of a wildlife agency or commission as it considers regulations for hunting mountain lions. There has been concern, on the one hand, that lion populations are increasing and creating more danger to humans. On the other hand, claims have been made that populations are decreasing and lions will become endangered if hunting continues. We do not attempt to resolve any of these issues. Rather, we have attempted to gather some of the factual information related to mountain lion mortality and summarize it. In a survey questionnaire sent to 15 states west of the Mississippi River, we asked the state wildlife agency to document the amount of mountain lion mortality each year since 1984, and provide any population estimates they may have made. Follow-up telephone calls were made to elicit information about possible causes of trends. Most states had no information on range extensions, but a few did report increasing sightings in new areas. Total removals seem relatively stable in some states, while others show increases. For example, Arizona and Wyoming have been relatively stable in all categories. Montana has had a large increase in mortality from hunting (related to increased harvest quotas), with smaller increases in traffic collision, depredation removals, and public safety removals. California, without hunting, has had striking increases in other categories. |
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