Board OKs Lion Report
After complying with a court order that it evaluate the environmental impact of a proposed mountain lion hunt, the California Fish and Game Commission on Tuesday reaffirmed its decision to permit a hunting season on cougars.
Even if all 190 animals targeted in the hunt were killed, the loss would not negatively affect any part of the environment, the commission said in adopting the environmental report.
The commission’s findings will be submitted for review to a San Francisco Superior Court, which halted the start of the hunt in Central and Northern California pending a complete environmental report.
The decision Tuesday triggered a protest by half a dozen members of the Earth First! environmental group, who noisily condemned the cougar hunt. Game wardens seized four of the demonstrators and took them out of the hearing room. The demonstrators were later released.
Opponents of the hunt indicated that they will challenge the commission’s findings.
Sharon Negri, executive director of the Mountain Lion Preservation League, 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.
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