State OKs Limited Mountain Lion Hunt : Invokes Loophole to Kill Potential Sheep Predators in Placer County

Faced with an upsurge in mountain lion attacks on sheep, the California Fish and Game Commission on Friday invoked a loophole in the state’s 14-year-old moratorium on lion hunting and ordered the random killing of five of the big cats in Placer County.

The hunt, to be conducted by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service animal control officers, is expected to begin almost immediately. Officials want the animals killed before woolgrowers move their sheep in mid-May to grazing areas in the 130-square-mile Foresthill Divide area about 40 miles northeast of Sacramento.

The commission’s action came on a 3-1 vote. The loophole, which was added to the moratorium law in 1982, acknowledges that the lions are posing a threat to livestock and allows officers to kill them even before an attack on a herd has been reported. Normally, a livestock owner must wait until after an attack before he can obtain a permit to go after the predator.

Emotional Issue

The killing of mountain lions, which are also referred to as pumas, cougars or panthers, has long stirred emotions throughout the state. From 1907 until 1963, state officials paid hunters a bounty and 12,461 cats were killed during that period. Three competing bills, two of which would allow a return to hunting and one which would extend the moratorium, which expires this year, are pending in the state Legislature.

In contrast to a heated public hearing earlier this week in nearby Auburn, Friday’s commission vote drew virtually no opposition. Indeed, representatives of four environmental groups--Defenders of Wildlife, the Mountain Lion Coalition, the California Wildlife Federation and the Wildlife Conservancy--conditionally endorsed the proposal or remained neutral.

Some environmentalists said the hunt would help protect deer herds, which reportedly have suffered severe declines in the Forest-hill Divide area, as well as reduce the number of sheep killed. Others said the mountain lion has recovered during the last 14 years to the point that the habitat could no longer support the present population. There are an estimated 4,800 mountain lions in the state.

Alternate Plan

In addition, the environmentalists suggested that the commission limit the random killing plan to just this year instead of its original proposal to kill five lions each year for five years. The commission quickly agreed to that alternate plan.

A spokesman for the California Woolgrowers Assn. told the commission that the hunt was needed in order to give sheep herders some relief from the attacks.

“We’re not asking for the annihilation of the lion,” Robert Blackford of Wheatland said. “We’re just asking for adequate controls.”

During the last 13 years, 280 sheep have been reported killed by mountain lions in the Foresthill Divide area, and the frequency of attacks has increased during the last several years. Forty-four percent of those kills occurred between 1982 and 1984, the state said.

Blackford, whose family has been herding in the area since 1925, said there was no problem with mountain lions until the early 1970s, when the moratorium on hunting began.

He said his son-in-law, who also raises sheep in the same area, lost 66 animals to lions in 1983 alone.

By killing up to five mountain lions in the Foresthill Divide area before livestock are moved onto the range, the department hopes to cut losses to livestock by 50% while still maintaining a viable mountain lion population in the area.