One of the last two male adult mountain lions known to be living in the Santa Monica Mountains has been shot and killed after a series of attacks on livestock that left a property owner with 12 dead animals over a two-year period, the National Park Service announced Monday, Feb. 10.
Mountain lion hunting is mostly banned in California, and special protections are in place for the Santa Monica and Santa Ana Mountains because the cougar populations in those areas are at risk.
But the state issues hunting permits to property owners if cougars have harmed pets or livestock. In the Santa Monica and Santa Ana Mountains, there is an added requirement that the property owner first use non-lethal methods to deter the cats.
“In this instance, the landowner implemented measures including bringing in as many livestock as possible, penning any remaining livestock close to the barn and houses, and utilizing trained guard dogs, hot wire fencing, motion activated lights and auditory hazing,” according the the National Park Service announcement.
The livestock killed were sheep and lamb, according to Tim Daly of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, which issued the permit.
The mountain lion killed, known as P-56, is thought to have been 4- or 5-years-old and was killed Jan. 27. He was one of only two lions in the Santa Monica Mountains with radio collars and he is the fifth adult male in the mountains known to have died in the past two years. He is the first to have been killed in the mountains with a state depredation permit.
“The loss of a breeding male is a concern … especially when the population is already very small,” said Jeff Sikich, the National Park Service’s lead field biologist for the project tracking lions in the Santa Monica Mountains.
“There are always animals out there that are not being tracked. Currently, there is only one adult male in the Santa Monica Mountains that we are tracking and that is P-63.”
Additionally, six females in the Santa Monica Mountains have radio collars, Sikich said.
Daly said the unnamed property owned did all that the state requested to protect the livestock, but it didn’t deter the lion.
“It’s always unfortunate when this happens,” Daly said. “Nobody wants to take out a beautiful wild animal. But there’s a point where it becomes a public safety issue.”
The other male cougars in the Santa Monica Mountains to die included P-55, thought to be P-56’s brother, who was found dead in July 2018. His body was too decomposed to determine the cause of death but biologists speculated that he may have eaten rat poison or been in a fight with another male.
Another, P-64, was thought to be a victim of the Woolsey fire in November 2018.
P-61, who had crossed the 405 Freeway from the west, was hit by a car Sept. 7 while attempting to recross the freeway after being chased by another male lion on the east side of the road.
P-30’s carcass was found Sept. 9, with the cause of death determined to be rodent poisoning.
The Santa Monica mountain lions west of the 405 live in a habitat island of about 230 square miles bordered by freeways and the Pacific Ocean, and the small population is threatened with extinction because of inbreeding. A wildlife bridge has been designed that could allow the cougars to cross northward over the 101 Freeway — and cats carrying fresh genes into the area to cross southward from the north.
But that bridge has not yet been built. And, to date, about $14 million has been raised for the $60 million structure, according to #SAVELACOUGARS, the coalition raising the money.
To help the lions of the Santa Ana Mountains, students and faculty at Cal Poly Pomona have developed several plans for a crossing of the 15 Freeway in Temecula. The Nature Conservancy spent $1.7 million to buy 73 acres next to the freeway for use as part of a crossing, but there is no fundraising yet for construction.