Renewal Asked on Cougar Hunting Ban

A controversial ban on the hunting of mountain lions in California will be renewed for another year if the Department of Fish and Game gets its way.

The department’s recommendation to the state Fish and Game Commission to reestablish the ban through 1986 has rekindled a long-standing conflict between conservationists and sportsmen over whether sports hunting of mountain lions--also known as cougars--should be permitted.

The Fish and Game Commission will hear further testimony on the hunting issue April 7 in San Diego. A final decision is expected at the commission’s meeting April 25 in Long Beach.

Hunters and sportsmen’s groups generally favor hunting of lions while conservationist groups, such as the Sierra Club and Defenders of Wildlife, are opposed.

Commissions Assumes Role

The commission took over management authority for mountain lions when a 14-year moratorium on hunting cougars ended on Jan. 1. A final decision by the committee on the hunting issue for this year is expected by the end of next month.

In making its recommendation, the department said another year of study is needed to develop an effective statewide plan for lion management.

Eldridge Hunt, chief of the department’s wildlife management branch, told the commission at the hearing that biologists and game managers still lack data to recommend hunting seasons this year for the state’s estimated 4,800 mountain lions.

Instead, he said, the department wants to develop management plans for six to eight large geographic areas of the state for 1987, with possible recommendations for sports hunting of lions in areas where they are abundant or threaten livestock or deer.

Could Authorize Hunting

The department said the commission could authorize public hunting of 20 lions on the North Kings deer range east of Fresno if it “feels that it is appropriate” but the department stopped short of recommending the hunting.

It did recommend continuing the five-year lion depredation control program on Foresthill Divide in Placer County by killing five animals. Five were allowed to be killed last year because they were slaughtering sheep.

On the issue of lifting the overall ban on cougar hunting, hunters say they want a balance between deer herds and mountain lions.

But Bill Yeates of the Mountain Lion Coalition argues, “The only reason for supporting a hunting season on lions is to provide some individual the recreational pleasure of killing this wild animal and placing its carcass on the living room floor or wall.”

Commissioner Concerned

Fish and Game Commission President Brian Kahn says he is concerned that the department is considering mountain lion hunting based only on deer and livestock depredation control. He said there are many other factors that should be weighed.

“Mountain lions depend most on deer for food,” he said, “but much of their habitat is gone, because there are 20 million of us, building subdivisions, cutting grazing livestock. If people put as much energy into protecting habitat, maybe we’ll still have the luxury of discussing both deer and mountain lions in the next 20 years.”

The moratorium on sport hunting of cougars was imposed in 1972 after the population of the animals dwindled to an estimated 2,000. The moratorium expired Jan. 1 after a bill to extend it was vetoed by Gov. George Deukmejian last year.

During the moratorium, killing of mountain lions still was allowed where they threatened livestock.