The State - News from May 3, 1985

The state Senate dealt hunters a blow by adding another four years to a soon-to-expire moratorium on the killing of the California mountain lion. The measure was sent to the Assembly on a 22-10 vote, touching off a spirited debate among the Senate’s hunting supporters. They contend that the mountain lion population has surged under government protection, resulting in the deaths of thousands of deer and livestock. The Senate acted less than a week after the California Fish and Game Commission invoked a loophole in the current moratorium on lion hunting and ordered the random killing of five of the cats in Placer County.