Countywide : Researchers Find 3 Cougars Dead

Three Orange County mountain lions died between March and June, two of natural causes and one that apparently was killed and eaten by another cougar, according to a quarterly report on the county’s mountain lions.

“That’s more than average, but it’s not by itself alarming,” said Paul Beier, leader of a five-year study on mountain lions that is being jointly funded by the county and the state Department of Fish and Game.

The study includes about 15 female and four male mountain lions that roam the Santa Ana Mountains, which occupy much of eastern Orange County. Nine of the animals are collared with radio transmitters that enable researchers to track them.

According to the report by Beier and Reginald H. Barret of the Orange County Cooperative Mountain Lion Study, a 2-year-old male mountain lion died in early April, apparently of natural causes. A female was found dead in June, again of natural causes. Another female was killed in May, her half-eaten carcass showing canine puncture wounds that indicated that she was killed by another mountain lion, Beier said.

The study began in 1988 to track the mountain lions and examine them in an urban setting. It is scheduled for completion in 1993. The study was undertaken after two children were mauled in Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness Park in 1986, said Tim Miller, manager of county regional parks.

One of the children, an El Toro girl who was 5 years old when she was attacked, was awarded about $2.1 million last year in a lawsuit against the county. The county is appealing the jury award.

Beier said mountain lion attacks are rare and seem to be a product of an increase in the human population.

“A lion needs about 800 square miles of habitat,” Beier said. “I don’t think cougars are changing their behavior and increasing attacks on people. I think people are venturing more into cougar habitats.”