Wildlife Officials In Southern CA Reverse Ruling on Hunting Problematic Mountain Lions

By Tom Knighton

Officials in Southern California have a reversed an earlier ruling on mountain lions that killed pets and livestock. Previously, any rancher who had a pet or farm animal killed by the big cats could hunt them, but now officials have decided that’s just too easy and makes way too much sense.

Now, the process is more complicated.

Mountain lions that kill pets and livestock in Southern California will no longer be automatically targeted for death.

The state Department of Fish and Wildlife is changing the policy that granted ranchers and others automatic depredation permits for marauding cats. Now, the applicant must first try nonlethal methods to scare away or keep out the cougar, the Sacramento Bee reported Wednesday.

A permit would be issued only after two nonlethal attempts.

The policy applies to the Santa Monica and Santa Ana mountain ranges in Southern California, where small and genetically isolated populations of cougars are hemmed in by freeways and are at risk of dying out.

California issues more than 200 depredation permits a year, although typically fewer than half result in kills, the Bee reported. However, in the Santa Ana ranges, a 13-year study showed that more than a quarter of the cougars were killed …Read the Rest

Source:: Bearing Arms