According to the Nationwide Park Company, point out officers recently permitted the killing of a 4- to five-yr-previous male mountain lion under California’s depredation law. This incident is the 1st time that a radio-collared mountain lion has been killed under a depredation permit from the California Division of Fish & Wildlife (CDFW) in the Santa Monica Mountains.
The motive for the permitted killing of the mountain lion, named P-56, was numerous incidents involving a nearby landowner’s livestock. The landowner took several safeguards, together with penning any remaining livestock near to the house, scorching-wire fencing, using experienced guard pet dogs, as nicely as movement-activated lights and auditory hazing. Over a span of two a long time, the house operator missing twelve animals from nine independent depredation incidents.
Undertaking lead field biologist Jeff Sikich stated the effects of the reduction, specified the ongoing national park review over the final two decades on mountain lions in the western Santa Monica Mountains (south of U.S. Highway 101 in the vicinity of Camarillo).
“The reduction of a breeding male is a concern for the review, in particular when the inhabitants is previously extremely compact,” Sikich mentioned in a press launch. “There are often animals out there that are not getting tracked. Currently, there is only one grownup male in the Santa Monica Mountains that we are tracking and that is P-63.”
Hunting mountain lions in California has been banned since 1990, and they have been selected by the point out as a “specially protected mammal.” But, if a individual animal has repeated incidents of harming livestock or pets, then a house operator can request a depredation permit from CDFW, and the animal in issue will be up for investigation and possibly killed.
In December of 2017, 8 months soon after P-56 was 1st identified and tagged with a GPS tracker, the CDFW place its “three-strike” coverage into position. This allowed house entrepreneurs to file for a lethal permit only soon after non-lethal deterrents experienced been experimented with and unsuccessful. In this circumstance, the house owner’s claims achieved the criteria over numerous a long time, even though P-56 ongoing to persist, and regrettably, experienced to be place down.
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