Environmental Report Backing Mountain Lion Hunt Approved

Complying with a court order that it evaluate the environmental impact of a proposed mountain lion hunt, the California Fish and Game Commission said Tuesday that even if hunters killed all 190 animals targeted in the hunt, the loss would not negatively affect any part of the environment.

A Superior Court judge in September stopped the start of the mountain lion hunt in Central and Northern California, asking that a full environmental impact report be submitted. The Fish and Game Commission in early October drafted its proposed environmental findings, which were circulated to the public for written comment.

On Tuesday, the commission briefly reviewed 54 written responses to its findings, many of them lengthy documents prepared by wildlife biologists opposing the hunt. Then the commission, meeting in San Diego, voted 4 to 0 to adopt the findings and ordered its attorneys to file the documents with the court as soon as possible.

The vote triggered an immediate protest by half a dozen members of the Earth First! environmental group, who stood up and noisily condemned the cougar hunt. Game wardens seized and handcuffed four demonstrators and rushed them out of the hearing room. The demonstrators were later released.

Back From Brink

There are an estimated 5,100 of the big cats ranging through the wilds in the state, according to the commission’s experts. The figure indicates that the population has more than doubled since mountain lion hunting was outlawed in 1972 because the predators faced extinction.

The commission’s findings said the hunt would not adversely affect the mountain lions, the deer herds they prey on or the wildlife habitat.

That assessment was quickly challenged by opponents of the hunt.

“There is no way they can know that,” said Sharon Negri, executive director of the Mountain Lion Preservation League.

Criticized Report

She contended that the 3 1/2-page report adopted by the commission was “self-serving and haphazard” because it failed to look at a whole range of impacts.

The foundation was the lead plaintiff in the September suit filed in San Francisco Superior Court.

“The commission’s findings are grossly inadequate; there is no evidence to support their conclusions,” said attorney James Moose, representing the Mountain Lion Preservation Foundation.

If the judge agrees with the commission’s findings, the mountain lion hunt could be opened within two weeks, according to Pete Bontadelli, the Fish and Game Department’s acting director. Southern California would not be part of the hunt, which would take place north of the Tehachapi Mountains, state officials said.