Lion Poacher Reward Raised To $ 11,700

One city and two not for profit groups join the fray.

Calabasas in Los Angeles County matched the $ 5,000 originally offered as a reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killer(s) of a mountain lion in the Santa Monica Mountains.

Animal Rescue Team, Inc. of Ventura County pledged $1,500 and San Diego’s Mountain Lion Foundation added an additional $200. The total reward now stands at $11,700.

The dead mountain lion was reported to the National Park Service and to DFG in mid-September. Game wardens dispatched to the scene determined that the mountain lion did not die of natural causes. In California mountain lions are categorized as a 'specially protected mammal' . It is illegal to hunt or trap them.

Ranchers and deer hunters on the other hand loathe the lion because it preys on calves and other small livestock and on deer. The number of mountain lions has increased in recent years because of this special protection. Depredation of deer herds by the lions is beginning to be noticeable in certain areas of the state. Mountain lions also attacked hikers leading to the death of one hiker in at least one case.

Wildlife biologists and DFG game wardens as well as citizens who could be negatively affected by the increasing presence of mountain lions in our National Parks and near populations centers ought to watch out carefully for the point at which mountain lions have established sustainable populations in the state and are becoming numerous enough to constitute a danger to recreational users of our great outdoors and to other wildlife. We can not and should not exclusively leave the status of mountain lions up to organizations that fancy the predator at any price. Big cat fanciers so to speak.

When the time has arrived carefully considered mountain lion quotas will go along way towards avoiding gut shot mountain lions on public and private land.

PJJ