Coalition Fights Plan to Kill 210 Cougars

A coalition of wildlife preservation groups has begun what promises to be a fierce fight against the California Fish and Game Department’s proposal to allow hunters to kill up to 210 mountain lions this year.

Spokesmen for several groups said they will use testimonials from movie stars, meetings with editorial boards and public service announcements on radio to rally the public against the proposal, which would allow the first sport hunting of the lions in 15 years.

The Fish and Game Commission will hold its first public hearing on the proposal at 8 a.m. today at Long Beach City Hall.

Legislation Introduced

Meanwhile, Assemblyman Tom Bates (D-Oakland) has introduced legislation that would take the decision out of the Fish and Game Commission’s hands by reinstating a ban on hunting the lions. Gov. George Deukmejian vetoed similar legislation in 1985.

“There are just too many unanswered questions about the mountain lion to open up a trophy-hunting season,” said Sharon Negri, director of the Mountain Lion Preservation Foundation.

Two Orange County children were mauled by mountain lions in separate incidents at Caspars Wilderness Regional Park last year.

Negri and others, including representatives of the Mountain Lion Coalition and the Defenders of Wildlife, question the state’s assertion that there are at least 5,100 mountain lions in California. They said the Fish and Game Department’s studies of the lion population are inadequate because they use field studies of small areas to generalize about the number of lions living in broad regions.

“The department is ignoring the fact that habitats change, elevations change, you have cities right in the middle of some habitat areas, rural subdivisions, and serious grazing operations, all of which affect the area available for lions,” said Bill Yeates, lobbyist for the Mountain Lion Coalition.

Redford Featured on Tape

The coalition has distributed 238 tapes to radio stations featuring actor Robert Redford appealing to the public to contact Deukmejian and the Fish and Game Department. On Thursday, actress Tippi Hedren joined other animal preservationists at a Los Angeles press conference to decry the hunting proposal. She called lions shy animals that “do not want anything to do with humans.”

Negri said the foundation’s campaign will stress that the proposed hunting season is not intended to protect livestock or the public from any danger the lions pose. Instead, the proposed hunt was triggered by a change in state law Jan. 1, 1986, classifying mountain lions as game animals and allowing the commission to regulate the hunting of the big cats.