Editorial: Let's finally protect mountain lions from freeways, rat poison, and angry property owners (via latimesopinion)
contending that the genetically distinct subpopulations along the Central Coast and in southern California are eligible for protection because they are evolutionarily significant and endangered by habitat loss, among other problems. The Department of Fish and Wildlife, which provides the commission with scientific data, has recommended the commission formally consider listing the lions as threatened.
There’s no question the commission should vote to study whether to list the lions. The study may take a year, but protections would kick in immediately, pending the commission’s final decision.Those protections, which can’t come too soon, would help on multiple fronts. Developers building in lion habitat would be obligated not to block an existing wildlife corridor unless providing an alternative one.
And while the study is underway, the state should take one additional step to preserve the lions: It should not grant any depredation permits for lions that prey on livestock or pets kept within or abutting their habitat. As awful as it is to lose those animals, it’s the owners’ responsibility to shield them from the lions whose turf they’re sharing.second-generation rat poisons
that are so devastating to mountain lions and other wildlife. Only licensed commercial exterminators are allowed to use them, but that hasn’t stopped mountain lions from ingesting lethal doses indirectly. Unfortunately, a proposal in the California Legislature last year to restrict use only to agricultural settings didn’t make it into law. It would be great if a formal move to protect the lions led to a ban on those rodenticides in most settings.
If we want to maintain the odd and magical blend of urban and wild in Los Angeles and beyond, we must protect the mountain lions that live with us. They not only help maintain a healthy ecosystem, they are the living history of the land we have now urbanized. Wouldn’t it be great if P-22 could wander outside of Griffith Park without risking death and find a mate?
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