The Big Cats Are Not for Sport

A Superior Court judge says that the California Fish and Game Commission did not adequately study the effect of a proposed mountain-lion hunting season scheduled to begin in Central and Northern California on Oct 10, thereby agreeing with the earlier arguments of environmental groups and independent wildlife experts. Now it seems incumbent on the commission to cancel the proposed 1987 hunt when it meets in Long Beach on Friday.

Mountain lions have not been hunted in California since 1972, and there is no justification for resuming the kill until there is more certainty about what effect the hunt would have on the lion, its habitat and its prey. Judge Lucy K. McCabe of San Francisco, ruling Monday, sent the issue back to the commission for further study. Amazingly, the commission’s lawyer said that he did not see why the commission could not gather the required information in time to go ahead with the 79-day season beginning in less than two weeks. Clearly, greater effort will be required than a few days’ phone conversations between the commission and the state Fish and Game Department staff.

There is not even a consensus about how many lions remain in the state in spite of a considerable comeback from the pre-1963 days in which the cats were slaughtered for bounty. The California cougar, a solitary roaming animal, is under a number of pressures from civilization--including loss of habitat. Animals that are suspected of killing livestock can be taken under existing state law. But until much more is known, mountain lions should not be shot for sport.