California’s Big Cats : THREATENED AND THREATENING

Mountain lions, once among the most common mammals in the Western Hemisphere, were quickly disappearing from Southern California’s mountains.But efforts to preserve them are changing that.

Bounties, unlimited sport hunting and urban development have all but eliminated the species, also known as the cougars, the puma and the catamount.

By the late 1960s, California’s mountain lion population was placed at between 2,000 and 3,000. Conservation efforts have caused the present number to increase to about 5,000.

In the Los Angeles area, mountain lions roam the Angeles, Los Padres and Cleveland national forests, where the California Department of Fish and Game places their population at several hundred. The population is stable, neither increasing or decreasing, wildlife experts said.

Still, as development encroaches on the cats’ natural remote mountain habitats, naturalists predict that it’s just a matter of time before the species disappears altogether--unless further steps are taken to ensure their survival.

In the San Fernando Valley region, at least one family of lions--believed to be a mother, father and their cub--lives in the Santa Susana Mountains above Granada Hills. Recent sightings prompted the Los Angeles Department of Animal Regulation to advise parents in the rural areas of Granada Hills and Porter Ranch to accompany their children when they go trick-or-treating.

“We just want people to be cognizant that they’re there, to be alert,” said Animal Control Officer Lt. Tim Goffa, who emphasized that the animals seldom attack people.

Recent Valley-Area Sightings

* June 28 and July 7 in the 12800 block of Louise Avenue in Granada Hills. In the first sighting, the lion was chasing a deer. In the second, it was stalking rabbits.

* Sept. 24 at the foot of O’Melveny Park near Louise Avenue and Sesnon Boulevard in Granada Hills.

* In November, 1991, a young mountain lion was captured in a Porter Ranch back yard and returned to the wilds.

* In suburban Thousand Oaks, a security guard occasionally spots a pair of mountain lions in an isolated canyon on Lang Ranch about a mile from Westlake Boulevard.

Attacks on Humans Are Rare

Mountain lions usually shy away from humans. The only fatal attacks documented in California occurred in 1890 when a small boy was killed by a pair of lions outside his home in Siskiyou County and in 1909 in Santa Clara County where a child and a woman died from rabies after being bitten by a lion.

In Southern California, there have been only a few reported attacks on humans in Southern California in recent years, all in wilderness areas:

* 1986: A mountain lion mauled and seriously injured a 5-year-old girl in Orange County’s Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness Park. In response, the County Board of Supervisors banned children from the park. Another child was attacked in the park that same year.

* 1992: On March 12 a mountain lion mauled a 9-year-old boy as he biked with his family in Gaviota State Park, 20 miles north of Santa Barbara. After a two-week search a young male mountain lion believed responsible was shot and killed by wildlife officials.

* 1993: In June, a young boy was mauled in the Los Padres National Forest near Kiowa Reservior in Santa Barbara County. He was not seriously injured.

* 1993: On Sept. 18 park rangers chased and killed a mountain lion in San Diego County’s Cuyamaca Rancho State Park moments after the big cat boldly invaded a busy campground and attacked a 10-year-old girl. She was not injured.

Preservation

* A law enacted by the state Legislature in 1990 prohibits hunting mountain lions for sport.

* Under Proposition 117, approved by voters that year, a person can get a permit to kill a lion only if it is apt to cause damage or injury, or is a threat to humans.

Mountain Lion Profile

(Felis concolor)

Body size: 4 to 6 feet long.

Weight: 80 to 150 pounds.

Color: Yellowish, tawny or reddish brown, less often gray. Belly is white.

Voice: Like that of a domestic cat, only louder.

Longevity: As long as 19 years.

Habitat: Generally remote mountainous areas. Mountain lions can adapt to a large range of climates, from subarctic snow to equatorial heat. In the mountains, they often climb above the timberline.

Habits: Most active at dawn, dusk and night, mountain lions are solitary and rarely seen. Their diet consists of deer, coyotes, rabbits and other small mammals. The mountain lion’s mating call is a harsh scream. The female primarily gives birth during the summer months. Gestation lasts about three months. A litter contains between two and four cubs.

Sources: Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mammals, The California Wildlife Region, Reader’s Digest North American Wildlife, Los Angeles Department of Animal Control, California Department of Fish & Game

Researched and written by Mayerene Barker