Mountain Lion Protection Law Under Fire

Nanse Browne was out for a peaceful late afternoon jog in a Monterey-area park when a mountain lion charged her from behind. Browne, 42, stared it down--until the mountain lion finally slunk away.

These days, Browne heads a new support group for mountain lion victims, calling the wild cats “serial killers� that should be systematically thinned out by state wildlife officials--not just when someone is attacked or killed.

She’s just part of a feeding frenzy: In Chico, hunter Dan Heal suggests an even more aggressive tack--leave mountain lions to sportsmen. In Sacramento, state Sen. Tim Leslie (R-Carnelian Bay) wants to strip away the mountain lion’s protected status--something that was approved by voters, including Nanse Browne, five years ago. If the Legislature fails to control mountain lions, Leslie warns, it will have “the blood of these victims on (its hands).�

With attacks and threats to humans at a record high--and with experts saying a growing population of lions is losing its reputed shyness with humans--state wildlife officials face unprecedented pressure to protect both man and beast.

In the current emotional climate, that may be impossible.

“Their feet are going to be held to the fire, whatever they do, believe me,� said Browne, a Carmel Valley mother of two.

The quandary is fueled by a series of unexpected sightings and attacks, and the fact that two people in California died in mountain lion attacks last year--the first such deaths in the state since 1910.

Mountain lions are turning up at places such as an elementary school in San Diego County, a Montclair shopping center and a Sacramento movie theater. Last year, in the San Gabriel Valley community of Bradbury, a mountain lion was sighted on a quiet street, a white poodle in its jaws. This month, a federal tracker said he hunted five mountain lions in 15 days, two in San Luis Obispo County and one each in the Tujunga-La Crescenta area, Fillmore and the Angeles National Forest--more than he remembers at any other time in a 17-year career.

On Tuesday, the Senate’s Natural Resources and Wildlife Committee heard emotional testimony on Leslie’s bill to lift the mountain lion’s protected status, guaranteed by a statute that declares the animal’s survival to be more important than that of wolves, bear, deer and other wild animals. The bill could open the mountain lion to hunting again.

Under the glare of TV news lights, a 43-year-old man hoisted a mangled gasoline can before committee members--the only protection he had to fight off a mountain lion in a Sacramento County canyon, he said.

The state Department of Fish and Game last year recorded more than 350 serious mountain lion incidents--including attacks and threats to humans--up more than 20% since 1993. No studies have been done on why this is happening; no one knows whether mountain lions are acting strangely or simply running into humans more often. Hunters and others say there are simply too many mountain lions around; environmentalists argue that there’s no evidence that thinning the animal’s ranks would mean fewer attacks.

All sides agree that the conflict is inevitable, as urban sprawl creeps into mountain lion turf. More mountain lions are fighting for a declining number of deer and other prey, forcing them into civilization, where dogs and cats are easy pickings. State officials estimate that the mountain lion population has tripled to about 6,000 since a 1971 law put them off limits to hunters. That means more people see mountain lions.

Public fear is reaching near hysteria, wardens say, making it hard to separate legitimate sightings from others. Already, the state’s 265 wardens are stretched thin--covering an average of 377,358 acres each--and unable to check out every mountain lion call. Warden Mark Jeter, who patrols the Angeles National Forest above Glendora, interviews frantic callers before he goes out on mountain lion sightings. It has a short tail? Then it’s not a mountain lion. It’s the size of a beagle? No way.

“I have people swear they have a mountain lion on their fence, and I go down there, and it’s a five-pound house cat,� he said.

This clash between urgency and resources was illustrated at an Inyo County elementary school where teachers found telltale paw prints in the sandbox. School officials asked the Fish and Game Department to “eliminate� the problem. Instead they received a letter from a fish and game biologist explaining that he did not “have the authority to eliminate mountain lions merely because they occur (sic) near the school.� He sent along a brochure: “Living with California Mountain Lions.�

Department of Fish and Game officials say their mountain lion efforts are limited by law and logistics. Nonetheless, they are as vigilant as possible, said department spokesman Jeff Weir .

Mountain lions “would probably develop a taste for humans if we let them. It’s a serious issue,� he said. “What do you do with a mountain lion in the middle of Santa Monica? What do you do with a mountain lion in the middle of Alhambra? . . . You have mountain lions on the fringes of urban areas. You have people seeing mountain lions more than ever before.�

The department manages the population of other wild animals by issuing sport hunting permits, relocating them or reducing their food source. It has no such options with mountain lions because of Proposition 117, passed by voters in 1990. Under this protected-status law, permits to kill mountain lions are issued only in cases where an animal mauls livestock or threatens or kills people.

In the most recent incident, on March 25, federal trackers shot and killed a mountain lion that they believe had attacked a 27-year-old bicyclist in the San Gabriel Mountains above Altadena. Earlier that week, a mountain lion had clawed and bit the bicyclist on the head until he fought if off with rocks.

Bicyclist Scott Fike, who is 6-foot-4, did everything experts recommend: He got off his bike and stood tall, trying to show the mountain lion that he was not animal prey. He yelled. He waved his arms. Fish and game officials, who are surprised that the lion attacked at all, say they are even more bewildered that it kept charging, despite Fike’s efforts to fight it off; at that point, experts believe, the lion will retreat. This lion was not starving--she was unusually big for a female at 96 pounds--and in good health, with no signs of rabies or other disease.

Animal rights activists say there must be a better way than using a gun. Fish and game officials should have studied other options before shooting, such as trying to relocate the lion, said Madeline Bernstein, executive director of the Los Angeles Humane Society.

“To me, a bunch of trackers and dogs tracking a lion and shooting it point-blank--it’s kind of barbaric,� she said.

Animal rights activists acknowledge that attacks are increasing but say they are still rare. More Americans die from attacks by bees (43), dogs (14), and rattlesnakes (10) each year, according to the Mountain Lion Foundation in Sacramento. But mountain lions stir primal fears in people, leading to unfair politics, foundation Executive Director Mark J. Palmer said.

“The whole concept of the stealth predator like the mountain lion--it kind of feeds on people’s childhood fear of the big, bad wolf coming to eat us,� Palmer said.

Palmer complains that anti-mountain lion forces are preying on the public’s fears, trying to pressure game wardens to act more aggressively. Foundation officials favor a gentler approach. They are working with a Placer County supervisor to develop a pilot program to chase problem mountain lions away; residents who spot lions could call a hot line for federal trackers to bring their hound dogs into the neighborhood and chase the wild cats into the mountains.

California Sierra Club leaders want fish and game officials to produce more studies of mountain lions to determine if the population indeed has increased before policy changes are considered, said Hans Hemann, the group’s lobbyist. Also, the department should work on public education efforts so people who encounter mountain lions don’t aggravate them, Hemann said.

Legislators are proposing their own alternatives.

A bill by Assemblyman Dominic Cortese (D-San Jose) would create a 24-hour lion-sighting hot line for people who feel threatened and a public database of lion activity. Next week, Sen. Leslie’s mountain lion bill is up before the Senate Natural Resources and Wildlife Committee. The bill would put on the ballot in 1996 a measure to strip the mountain lion’s protected status, allowing fish and game officials to control the population through unspecified means such as relocation. The dropping of protected status would make it possible for the Legislature to approve a separate bill allowing the hunting of mountain lions.

Fear of mountain lions is so intense that residents are afraid to “let their children play in their own back yard,� Leslie said. “At some point, you have to ask, is the blood of these victims on the hands of the committee itself if we fail to take the steps necessary to allow wildlife experts to manage this population as it should?�

It’s high time that state officials take control of the mountain lion problem, Fillmore resident Robert Berrington said.

On March 15, just outside his house, Berrington found a lion with his 85-pound dog in its jaws. He grabbed a .45-caliber handgun and fired a couple of shots. The lion dropped the dog and fled. Later, federal trackers hunted and killed the 130-pound lion suspected in the attack.

The Labrador and pit bull mix, named Lewis, required more than 50 stitches, said Berrington, who has lived at the same ranch all his life. When he grew up, he said, neighbors only saw fast-moving mountain lions at dusk, roaming the hills like phantoms. They never hit the main roads. Now, neighbors see them all the time, in back yards and on driveways. Now, Berrington won’t let his two grandchildren play outside unattended.

“It’s like moving Jeffrey Dahmer or something next door to you, waiting for the next thing to happen,� said Berrington, 47. “I hope we don’t get another one, that’s all.�

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Attacks on Humans

There were no recorded mountain lion attacks on humans in California between 1910 and 1986. But since 1991, there have been a number of incidents, including two documented fatal attacks. There was also a fatality in Colorado in January, 1991, when an 18-year-old jogger was killed as he ran alone on a trail less than half a mile from his high school in Idaho Springs.

Incidents in California:

1. March, 1995--27-year-old Scott Fike was riding his bicycle in the San Gabriel Mountains above Altadena when he was attacked. He fought off the animal with rocks and escaped with minor injuries. The 96-pound female lion that injured him was fatally shot later that week.

2. December, 1994--56-year-old Iris Kenna was killed while walking alone on a one-lane, paved road in Cuyamaca Rancho State Park in San Diego County. The 116-pound male lion that killed her was fatally shot that night.

3. August, 1994--Two couples staying at a remote Mendocino County cabin reported killing a mountain lion after it charged them. The confrontation was triggered by a fight between their dog and the lion, which they stabbed to death. A man lost his thumb in the struggle. Tests indicated that the mountain lion had rabies.

4. April, 1994--Barbara Schoener, 40, was killed by a mountain lion as she was jogging alone in Auburn State Recreation Area, about 45 miles northeast of Sacramento. The mountain lion was later killed.

5. September, 1993--10-year-old Lisa Kowalski was attacked at Cuyamaca Rancho State Park as she played ball with her father. The lion, which bit her once in the buttocks, was later killed.

6. August, 1993--Devon Foote, 6, was attacked in Los Padres National Forest in Santa Barbara County. Officials recorded the incident as an unverified attack because no paw prints were found, although witnesses described the mountain lion.

7. March, 1992-- Darron Arroyo, 9, suffered minor injuries when he was attacked in Gaviota State Park in Santa Barbara County. The lion was later killed.

8. November, 1988--51-year-old Lucy Gomez was found dead in in the Sierra foothills of Butte County. Game wardens suspected that she had been killed by a mountain lion but could not prove it. Her death is not recorded as as mountain lion fatality. No lion was killed.

9. October, 1986--Justin Mellon, 6, received minor injuries in an attack in Orange County’s Caspers Regional Park. The lion was later killed.

10. March, 1986--Laura Small, 4, was attacked, also in Caspers Regional Park, and left partially paralyzed and blind in one eye by an animal that was later killed. The county lost a $2-million lawsuit for negligence in not posting mountain lion warning signs.