Readers React: Once considered intruders, pumas have endeared themselves to L.A.

Generations of Angelenos have been taught to fear the native predators that roamed Southern California more freely before a metropolis started metastasizing early last century. But more recently, with the publication of images captured by remote cameras of mountain lions lurking innocently adjacent to civilization, our attitudes toward these creatures have softened. In many ways, the predators have endeared themselves to us.

The reaction to news this week that puma P-34, who was found dead in Point Mugu State Park in September, was killed by rat poison reflects this shift in attitude. Our letter writers have been saddened by P-34’s death and angered by the human act that probably killed the mountain lion.

Here is what some of them wrote.

Linda Parks, a Ventura County supervisor and chairwoman of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, faults state law:

Negligence led to the death of P-34.

Thousands of pounds of anticoagulant rodenticides are poisoning the wildlife food chain each year as predators of rodents, and their own predators, succumb to death by bleeding. Non-targeted species up to the apex predator mountain lion are unnecessarily being killed off.

The new state law to reduce the use of these rodenticides isn’t effective because it still allows the big users like flood control districts, farmers and school districts to continue to spread these poisons.

Ironically, the answer to controlling rodents is banning these poisons and encouraging healthy, natural predators to do their work. Don’t let P-34’s death be in vain.

Dana Point resident Wes Correll says humans will feel the effect of their negligence:

It saddens me to see how we inadvertently and also intentionally harm Earth and all of her creatures.

While I won’t be around to see the results, I am intrigued to learn the consequences of what we are doing to ourselves and future generations as we ingest all these same toxins, including the incomprehensible amount of plastic, that we have irreversibly introduced into the food chain.

I feel dreadfully sorry for the less intelligent and totally innocent beings. For the supposedly smarter ones, not so much.

Elaine Livesey-Fassel of Los Angeles hopes for humans to stop poisoning other creatures before it’s too late:

This reader joins thousands of others who are so saddened to hear the latest horror story related to the polluting of our world.

As one who supports the building of freeway bypasses for wildlife, I was naively hopeful that perhaps we might see these animals thrive. But I see that because of the prevalence of poisons, mountain lions may not survive long enough to benefit from the bypasses.

Man is a lethal species and is the top predator in the world. Is it too much to hope for that the businesses producing rat poisons will cease doing so before all mountain lions are lost? Or must we just say thank you for more bad news?

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