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Photography & Video by Thomas D. Mangelsen and Wild Nature Media.
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Montana gives 5 female mountain lions a reprieve.
There are sixteen states that have mountain lions and in every state except Texas (where they are vermin), they are ‘managed’. In California and Florida mountain lions are not hunted but steps are taken to protect people, pets, and livestock if a lion has become a credible threat (not just a random sighting).
It is a misnomer that trophy hunting of mountain lions is a form of management. It is actually the provision of a recreational opportunity for those who like to kill lions and an attempt to assure supply for those who like to kill the natural prey that the lions eat.
This is hunter management not wildlife management.
The science that goes into season setting, basically identifies a ‘surplus’ of lions that is expendable for the fulfillment of hunter demands. Young male lions face survival challenges without hunting, and as with most species, they are considered ‘redundant’. This is why killing for sport is not necessary to manage populations-the competitive nature of lions means that they are largely self regulating as far as maintaining numbers that can be supported by available habitat and food sources. However, it is not the young males that the hunters want…they want the trophy. Killing the big Tom is the accomplishment sought by many in the field. This reduces the age demographic and destabilizes the dominant-male equilibrium of populations
Our best case scenario for mountain lions is that they are no longer killed for pleasure, but thoughtfully managed to prevent conflict as in California and Florida. However, we want to thank the Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks Commission for making life better for 5 female cougars. They removed them from the quota proposal that had its final hearing yesterday.
http://mtpr.org/post/uncertain-population-counts-complicate-montana-mountain-lion-management
Great interview with NPS biologists working to save cougars in the Santa Monicas
National Park Service biologists Jeff Sikich and Seth Riley discuss the future of mountain lions in southern California’s Santa Monica mountains in this candid interview with the L.A. Times. They offer up the good, the bag, and the ugly, and provide insight into what’s needed in order to ensure a future for pumas in southern California.
Click here to read the interview.
The courage to say when ‘enough is enough’.
In our politically influenced lives, it is a brave agency that stands up for the truth. We must not let our most precious public resources be affected by political pressure from special interests.
The apparent disregard for the suffering of large carnivores does not seem to have changed much….
Ancient Rome: men proved their strength by fighting large carnivores to the death with appropriately primitive weaponry. In the 21st century, recreational killing of animals for other than food is still a social affirmation of sorts among the protagonists who derive pleasure from killing. Today the killing is often aided by sophisticated technological enhancers such as GPS, webcam, mechanized transportation in the backcountry and of course, the best guns or high powered bows available today.
We are not the same people today as the people of ancient Rome, yet this one area of recreational fulfillment still persists in what should be a kinder, gentler world.
California DFW on recent cougar sightings: No cause for alarm
A recent increase in cougar sightings and reports across California has officials with California Department of Fish and Wildlife urging residents to remain calm but to take reasonable precautions. Officials note that there is a spike in reports each spring as residents begin to spend more time outside and deer transition from winter to summer range (and the mountain lions follow). CDFW also attributes many urban cougar sightings to the fact that people are illegally feeding wild animals such as deer and rodents (a misdemeanor offence in California), which draws the cats into places they normally wouldn’t spend much time. It’s always refreshing to hear officials urging calmness and responsibility in a situation like this. The fact that mountain lions pose little threat to people shouldn’t deter us from taking the necessary safety precautions, however.
To learn more on how to live and recreate safely in mountain lion country, visit our Living with Cougars page. Click here to read the full article in Plumas County News.
Florida officials ask feds to review panther status
Officials with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission have written a memo to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service requesting that they reconsider the Florida panther’s “endangered” status. The memo states that Florida panthers may have “exceeded their carrying capacity” and are placing an incredible burden on managers and landowners. Unfortunately, the panther population is nowhere near the stated goal in the USFWS recovery plan. At present, there are between 150-200 panthers roaming southern Florida; the recovery plan calls for two populations of at least 240 panthers that are maintained for a minimum of 12 years before reclassification/delisting would be considered. Additionally, few if any threats to the animal have been eliminated, and the lack of high quality habitat and connectivity remains a significant barrier to recovery. There is still a long way to go before we should be considering reclassifying or delisting Florida panthers…
Please read the full article from the Ocala State Banner for more details.
A good article about the unacceptable ways that certain species of animals are being exploited
First it was the agrarian revolution, then the industrial revolution then the industrialization of agrarianism. Now we have a new, insidious, and very dangerous ‘revolution’ as we see the industrialization of the oldest formal method of survival- ‘hunting’. States’ rights to manage wildlife and their willingness to do so for a minority of their citizens, have led to the undesirable, even unethical, practice of ‘cultivating’ ungulate herds by putting pressure on carnivores. This has led to the misuse of the underlying foundation of ‘science.’ It is now used only to justify the ‘value’ of providing the political and financial opportunities that go hand-in-hand with the demands of ungulate hunters and the positive revenue they realize for the Agencies. The herds are yours and mine, yet they are being sold to the highest bidder and the predators whose job it is to contribute to the biodiversity of the natural world are being vilified and slaughtered.
The deer and elk ‘industry’ is not wildlife management. It is supply and demand to satisfy those with political clout. Our fellow predators are not the enemy of a free market niche of ungulate hunters. We need to say a resounding ‘NO’ to the slippery slope of policies that condone managing wild predatory species to provide for the demands of the human predator.
https://www.hcn.org/articles/were-letting-another-predator-go-down