Panel OKs Mountain Lion Hunt in Fall

The California Fish and Game Commission, thwarted in its attempt to allow sport hunting of mountain lions a year ago, voted Friday to allow hunters to kill 190 of the big cats this year.

The decision, if it withstands an expected court challenge, will allow hunters to shoot lions for trophies for the first time since the Legislature banned such killings 16 years ago.

Lion hunting will be limited to northern and central parts of the state. It will still be prohibited in Southern California, including Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino and Imperial counties and part of Ventura County.

The plan, approved on a 2-1 vote, is almost identical to one adopted by the commission last year but shelved by a San Francisco Superior Court judge, who ruled that the commission knew too little about the elusive creatures to justify a hunt.

Published Study

Although the Fish and Game Department has since published a study that minimizes the hunt’s potential long-term impact on the lion population and the environment, opponents of the hunt indicated that they will return to court.

“They haven’t complied with the court order,” said Sharon Negri, executive director of the Mountain Lion Preservation Foundation. “We clearly have a lot of grounds in court. I can’t guarantee that we’re going to go back to court, but all the signs say yes.”

The foundation contends that the state’s study of the lion population was inadequate a year ago and now is further flawed by the absence of serious research on the impact of last year’s forest fires, which scorched nearly a million acres of wild lands.

The foundation presented petitions bearing the signatures of about 100,000 people opposing the proposed hunt. About 60 people testified against the plan Friday at the last of three lengthy sessions held on the issue this year.

Only a handful of proponents spoke at the hearing, but such groups as the National Rifle Assn., the California Rifle and Pistol Assn. and the California Wildlife Federation have made it clear over the last two years that they believe the commission is obligated to allow hunting, unless it is shown that the lions are endangered.

‘Should Be Hunted’

“The statutes say that we shall hunt game mammals if it can be done without biologically endangering that species,” said Kent DeChambeau, lobbyist for the California Rifle and Pistol Assn. “The mountain lion has been determined by the statutes to be a game mammal, and it should be hunted just like any other game mammal.”

The commissioners--all hunters appointed by Gov. George Deukmejian--made no comments before voting to approve the plan. Commissioners John Murdy and Robert Bryant voted in favor of the hunt, while E. M. McKracken voted against it. Chairman Albert Taucher did not vote, and Commissioner Benjamin F. Biaggini was absent.

The commission was given jurisdiction over the lions in 1986 after Deukmejian vetoed a measure that would have extended a legislative moratorium on sport hunting of the animals imposed in 1972.

The 1986 mauling of two Orange County children by lions has had little impact on the commission’s handling of the hunting question, other than to focus public interest on the issue. No hunting will be allowed in Southern California, and the Fish and Game Department’s report concludes that the hunting season should not affect the number of lion sightings and contacts, even near the hunting areas.

$75 for Permit

The commission’s plan provides for a 79-day hunting season beginning Oct. 8, with 190 hunting permits sold for $75 each.

The lions will be hunted in four zones. As many as 80 lions could be killed in northwestern California, 60 on the western slopes of the Sierra, 30 in Central California and 20 on the eastern slopes of the Sierra.

The southernmost hunting allowed would be in an area of Ventura County west of Interstate 5 and north of California 126.