Cougars Feeding Mainly on Deer : Study Shows No Foraging Near People

At least 17 mountain lions now roam the Santa Ana Mountains, living off deer and small animals without having to forage in campgrounds and neighborhoods for food.

Those are some of the findings of the yearlong Orange County Cooperative Mountain Lion Study, which was completed this week, and a report submitted to county officials for review.

The study, which was commissioned after cougars mauled two children in 1986, was undertaken to learn more about mountain lion behavior so that steps might be taken to prevent future attacks.

The study also determined that:

- Mountain lions are most active between 7 p.m. and 3 a.m. and least active between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m.

- Adolescent lions seem to be less afraid of humans than their parents. In separate incidents, two young lions recently approached lone men and had to be frightened off.

- The lions’ home ranges fluctuate from month to month. As of 2 months ago, for example, one of the lions under study expanded her range to include Orange County’s O’Neill Regional Park, where overnight camping is permitted.

Investigators plan another year of study and, in fact, recommend an additional 3 years of study to better understand the habits of mountain lions.

“We have good information now and it will be better,” said study leader Paul Beier. He and investigator Reginald H. Barrett are on assignment from research posts at UC Berkeley.

The county is paying $140,000 for the study, but Beier said he would look for other sources of money, should the study be extended.

County Supervisors Thomas F. Riley and Gaddi H. Vasquez, whose south county districts encompass much of Orange County’s mountain lion habitat, were unavailable for comment Thursday.

The study area is concentrated in south county’s Ronald W. Caspers Regional Park, a 7,500-acre camping preserve where

5-year-old Laura Small of El Toro was mauled by a mountain lion on March 23, 1986, and 6-year-old Justin Mellon of Huntington Beach was attacked by a lion 7 months later. The surrounding properties of Rancho Mission Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita, Starr Ranch and Coto de Caza are also included in the study.

To help them monitor the lions’ daily behavior, the researchers, assisted by a state tracking team, trapped four female lions in and near the park and placed collars on them. The collars transmit electronic signals which enable the researchers to pinpoint the animals’ movements.

The signals show that the four cougars maintain overlapping hunting ranges which all include portions of the park. In addition, tracks and sightings show that one of the females is now accompanied by two yearlings, possibly a male and a female.

The study team is trying to trap and collar the yearlings before they leave their mother. Having tried and failed last month to do so, Beier said he is planning another attempt.

Although the four collared lions have been the focus of the study efforts, Beier and Barrett say in their 19-page report that they had encountered tracks and sightings in other parts of the county’s backcountry which confirm that there are at least 17 lions in the Santa Ana Mountains, which straddle Orange, Riverside and San Diego counties. Beier said the lions, being nomadic hunters, move at will in the mountains.

Much of Area Inaccessible

Evidence of the 17 lions was all found in accessible areas such as roads and trails, the study notes. Because much of the area is inaccessible, Beier said 25 lions is a more realistic estimate of the total population.

In the Caspers Park study area, one of the more revealing observations is that the mountain lions are extremely competent hunters and show no dependence upon artificial food sources such as campground garbage, which was thought to be the case after the 1986 attacks.

In examining lion feces, called scat, the researchers have documented that the animals are subsisting primarily on deer, and to a lesser extent on other wild animals. According to the team’s analysis of scat over the past year, deer are present in 67% of the samples and opossum in 17%, with rabbit, coyote and bobcat present in the remainder. There was no evidence of any artificial food sources.

The evidence shows that adult lions have been killing three to five deer per month, feeding on the carcasses for an average of 2 to 3 days. In the case of the lion mother, she has been killing for herself and her yearlings.

Researchers have also established that mountain lions display two basic activity patterns--hunting and feeding--and that they are most active at night. During the hunting pattern, researchers said, the lion wanders as much as 5 miles in a 24-hour period, pausing to rest for periods of 30 to 90 minutes.

After the lion has killed a deer, it averages only about 2 miles of wandering over a 24-hour period. There is virtually no activity between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., and markedly less movement at night as well. The peak activity periods are at dusk and dawn, consisting generally of movement between a deer carcass and a daytime rest site, the researchers said.

Hunger No Motive for Attack

With evidence that the cougars are such proficient hunters, Beier and Barrett suggested in their report that hunger was not a motivation for the attacks on children. Hunters tracked and killed an adolescent male lion shortly after Laura Small was injured. It was not determined that the lion was responsible. The lion that attacked Justin Mellon, who was slightly injured, was never found.

“If one of these lions (under study) did attack children in 1986, this would contradict a popular belief that lion attacks on man are carried out only by lions unable to capture deer,” the researchers say in the report.

The researchers have determined, however, that adolescent lions do appear to be less afraid of humans than adult lions, which almost always flee when a person approaches. In the past 2 months, yearling lions weighing between 50 and 85 pounds have twice approached men on Rancho Mission Viejo land.

“In both cases, an apparently uncollared lion walked rapidly and directly toward an adult man (a tractor operator in the first case, a security guard in the second) until the man shouted and made a commotion, at which the lion ran away,” the researchers say in their report. “These limited findings confirm reports from other studies that yearling lions may be more likely than an adult lion to approach humans.”

To avoid future encounters between man and cougar, the researchers suggested that future trails and campgrounds be placed away from canyon bottoms, where the research shows mountain lions spend the vast majority of their time hunting and feeding.

Whether or not more lion attacks occur in Orange County, Beier said, depends on how lions react to continued development.

LOCAL LIONS AT A GLANCE

A report issued this week contains these findings about mountain lions in Orange County:

At least 17 mountain lions are known to inhabit Orange County’s Santa Ana Mountains, with an estimate of 25 for the local population.

Contrary to some belief, the lions subsist entirely on a diet of deer and smaller wild animals, without foraging for food in campground garbage cans or residential neighborhoods.

The mountain lions are “extremely competent” deer hunters, taking down an average of three to five deer per month. When they are not feeding on deer, the lions prey upon opossum, rabbit, coyote and bobcat.

Adolescent lions seem less afraid of humans than adult lions, as evidenced by two recent instances in which yearling lions approached lone men until the men frightened them away with shouts. Adult lions, by contrast, tend to shy away from people.

The lions are most active between between 7 p.m. and 3 a.m. and least active between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m.