Is South Dakota killing too many lions?

A report from the Black Hills Mountain Lion Foundation after their September 18th educational seminar “Mountain Lions in the Black Hills: Facts and Fiction” presented by wildlife biologist Dr. John Laundre.

By increasing hunting quotas the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks department may threaten the viability of the state’s mountain lion population, according to a wildlife biologist who has studied cougars for more than 20 years. Adjunct professor in the State University of New York at Oswego biology department, Dr. John Laundre was the keynote speaker at Mountain Lions in the Black Hills: Facts and Fiction, an educational seminar sponsored by the Black Hills Mountain Lion Foundation. Laundre labeled the agency’s lion statistics “not biologically honest” and warned that overhunting could have a devastating impact on the lion population and lead to a loss of its ecological functionality. GF & P plans to increase the total harvest from 40 to 45 and the female sub-quota from 25 to 30 as part of its proposed 2010-2015 mountain lion management plan. An additional season with a quota of five lions has been proposed for Custer state park. Laundre pointed out that GF & P’s estimate of approximately 250 cougars in the state is misleading because only about 160 would be adult animals and most of the immature cats will disperse to other areas. Because it is uncertain how many females are in the population and how many kittens survive each year the total number of lions may be considerably lower than GF & P estimates, Laundre said.

Dr. John Laundre holding two mountain lion kittens

The wildlife biologist, who also serves as vice-president of the Eastern Cougar Foundation, has conducted research on wolves and elk in Yellowstone National Park, cougar predation on mule deer in Idaho and pumas in the Chihuahuan desert. Laundre complimented GF & P for its “holistic guiding philosophy” regarding the return of mountain lions to the Black Hills and its progressive views on their role in ecosystems but urged the agency to rework its figures using a wider range of data.

Laundre explained how mountain lions and other top predators help restore the ecological integrity of forests. He said that the removal of large carnivores from the country’s eastern and southern forests have resulted in the disappearance of many varieties of both flora and fauna due to unchecked browsing by white-tailed deer. “Deer are instigating… the most massive change in forest habitat since uncontrolled logging in our early history,” the scientist said. “In some areas, the deer have cleared the woods of most of the plant varieties that once grew there. Lack of sufficient ground cover in turn leads to a decline in song birds that depend on the vegetation for nest building. Mountain lions and other large predators promote forest integrity not because they kill deer,” Laundre said, “but because of the effect they have on deer they don’t kill.” Cougars hunt by ambush and prefer areas where there is sufficient cover. Deer learn where lions are likely to prowl and tend to avoid those areas, which ensures the survival of plant species that the ungulates otherwise would eradicate.

Photo courtesy of the Mountain Lion Foundation

Laundre does not believe that it is necessary to cut lion numbers to preserve deer for human hunters. “Cougars just are not efficient enough as hunters to impact deer populations.” He estimated that predators and human hunters together typically remove about 12 per cent of the deer population every year, a tolerable reduction from which the cervines quickly recover. An avid deer hunter, Laundre said that sportsmen commonly blame predators, including cougars, when deer numbers are down, but heavy snowfalls are more likely to cause severe declines. He added that “hunting is not supposed to be like shopping at the supermarket.” It is a sport which involves elements of chance and skill.

Finally, the wildlife researcher said that although lions are powerful carnivores they rarely attack human beings. “It is more dangerous to walk the streets in any U. S. city at night than it is to hike or live in an area with mountain lions,” he said. Laundre presented slides depicting his work, including one in which he held three squirming cougar kittens. He related that during his years of research work he never was threatened by a wild cougar even when he snatched up and examined its babies.

The Black Hills Mountain Lion Foundation was created in 2003 after South Dakota removed the cougar from the state’s threatened species list and identified it as a big game animal. Our goals are to inform the public about mountain lion behavior and their importance to our ecosystem, help reduce human-lion conflicts, and fight for the preservation of these animals on their natural landscape. We support mountain lion management that is based on peer-reviewed science and encourage efforts to prevent habitat loss and fragmentation. For more information, email us at bhsdlions@yahoo.com or visit our website at www.blackhillslions.com.

An announcement from the Cougar Rewilding Foundation:

Certain PBS affiliate stations across the U.S. will begin airing LORDS OF NATURE in September 2010 — and over the next year. Broadcast dates are listed on the LordsOfNature.org website, organized by state.

Lords of Nature presents the engaging story of a science
now discovering the great carnivores as revitalizing forces
of nature, and a society now learning tolerance for the
beasts they had once banished.

View the TV Schedule

Watch the Trailer

Mountain Lion Incident Management and Capture and Handling for Natural Resource, Animal Control and Law  Enforcement Professionals

There are increasing confirmations of mountain lions in the Great Plains and Midwest as they naturally disperse from more western areas.  Feral or escaped captive mountain lions, also known as cougars or pumas, are sometimes detected as well.

Though these cats are not normally an immediate threat to humans, First Responders must manage the situation for the safety of all.

How do you do it? What is the appropriate response to a cougar sighting, encounter, or cornered cat?

The Cougar Rewilding Foundation, in cooperation with the American Ecological Research Institute (–AERIE) and Minnesota Zoo, offers the solution.

With its team of cougar experts, the CRF (formerly Eastern Cougar Foundation) is offering a 2-day workshop on the safe and effective management of cougar incidents from the sylvan to the suburban.

This is a must for first responders such as local police officers, animal control personnel and natural resource professionals.

This workshop will:

1) Provide up-to-date scientific information on cougar biology and behavior

2) Provide information on how to identify cougar sign

3) Demonstrate the latest in immobilizing drugs and techniques, with hands-on practice

4) Answer questions on how to handle immobilized animals, precautions needed, monitoring, and what to expect.

5) Provide first hand information on procedures to use for crowd control, media interaction, and development of your First Responder Team

This one-of-a-kind workshop is designed to give First Responders in areas where pumas are showing up the tools they need to handle the situations safely, efficiently, and professionally.  The course faculty includes:

Dr. John W. Laundré, a veteran cougar biologist with over 20 years experience and dozens of peer-reviewed publications

Dr. Jay Tischendorf, an experienced wildlife biologist and veterinarian with 25 years working with cougars, wolves, and other carnivores

Dr. Jim Rasmussen, professional zoo veterinarian, Minnesota Zoo

When: September 14-15, 2010.
Where: Minnesota Zoo – Apple Valley, MN
Registration Fee: $200

If interested in this unique opportunity, please contact:

Jay Tischendorf DVM
Director, American Ecological Research Institute (–AERIE)
Post Office Box 1826
Great Falls, Montana 59403 USA
Cell:  303-328-8414
E-Mail:   TischendorfJ@Hotmail.com or   Jay.Tischendorf@Novartis.com

The Utah Environmental Congress is presenting the documentary film Lords of Nature:  Life in a Land of Great Predators on Wednesday, June 23, 7:00 pm at the Sprague Public Library, 2131 South 1100 East in Salt Lake City, UT. The film explores the role of top predators such as cougars and wolves in keeping natural ecosystems in balance. Following the film, a panel will discuss the status of predators in Utah and the return of wolves to Utah. The film is free and open to the public. For more information, contact the Utah Environmental Congress at 801-466-4055.

What purpose do the mountain lion and other major predators serve?  These animals are at the top of the food chain.  They do not provide food for other, larger creatures.  They do not carry pollen, or provide us with oxygen, as do some insects and plants.  With a shrug, we respond with words recalled form high school biology:  Predators contribute to the balance of nature.

But balance is not enough.  An empty scale will balance.

The value of predators, large and small, is complex and commonly misunderstood.  Predators, even those at the very top of the food chain, play a vital role in sustaining other animals and plants within their range.  Consider this real world illustration of that principle.

When the Panama Canal was dug, a new lake rose in Central America.  As waters rose, a hillside, rich with wildlife, was isolated as the surrounding lowlands flooded.  The Smithsonian Institution recognized the value of this unique island, where research might demonstrate the effects of isolating small pieces of habitat.

Cougars soon disappeared from the new island.  This was no surprise, since lions require such a large territory for even a single animal.  Over the years, a catastrophic series of local extinctions occurred. By 1970, forty-five species of birds had disappeared from the island.

Scientists Joyhn Terborgh and Blair Winter hypothesized that surging populations of mesopredators (carnivores one step down from the largest and most dominant), over-populated because they were no longer subject to predation by, or in competition with, large carnivores.  With so many additional animals feeding upon bird eggs and nestlings, bird populations plummeted.

In addition, the number of plant varieties found on the island diminished, and soon it became difficult to find young saplings of the canopy trees.  Again, researchers traced the changes back to the loss of large predators.  Populations of herbivores exploded, and fell upon the flora of the island with a vengeance, tugging up young saplings for their tender leaves, devouring all of the individuals of whole species that had inhabited small niches.

What about the middle-sized mammals in their new, and relatively “safe” situation. Without large predators to cull the weaker, older, and disease prone animals, several generations are born and pass on less hardy genes.  But when food becomes scarce as a result of prey extinctions and over-populations, some species, despite their increased numbers, find themselves at a genetic disadvantage, unable to compete, subject to epidemics, and prey to more viable or adaptable species.  As the ecosystem crashes, these middle species, too, may disappear.

In the approach to environmental conservation known as “rewilding,” large predators like the mountain lion are counted as “keystone” species.  In summarizing The Role of Top Carnivores in Regulating Terrestrial Ecosystems, leading biologists John Terborgh, et.al. conclude that “our current knowledge about the natural processes that maintain biodiversity suggests a crucial and irreplaceable regulatory role of top predators.  The absence of top predators appears to lead inexorably to ecosystem simplification accompanied by a rush of extinctions.”

Eventually, nature balances.  But on a scale of diversity, balance without predators carries much less weight.  Fewer species occupy fewer ecological niches.  It is a balanced environment, but a much poorer one, severely degraded by the cascading losses, right down to the birds and flowers, caused by missing carnivores.

Humans in the ecosystem tend not to perceive themselves as interdependent with the natural environment.  Regardless, natural substances, derived from a diverse planetary flora and fauna, form the basis for much of our science, agriculture and industry.  Natural systems contribute to the quality of the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the foods we consume.  We turn to natural landscapes for recreation and renewal.

Large carnivores have a tremendous symbolic value:  they personify the wild.  Humans have been gifted with a special ability to appreciate diversity beyond mere survival.  We value wilderness aesthetically.  We mourn the loss of the grizzly and the wolf, and memorialize them on flags and t-shirts.

And yet, even in California where cougars are protected, wild cougars are killed in relentless pursuit of public safety and protection of domestic animals.  Their range is fenced off with policies as rigid and pointed as any barbed wire.

At some point we must take the time to reflect on the worth of wildness.  At what price can we imagine a world entirely empty of natural threats, a “safe” suburban Serengeti?

Perhaps it is in this realm of human and carnivore interactions that the concept of re-wilding has the greatest value.  For example, the vast territories required by carnivores force biologists, land use planners, and government decision-makers to take the larger view, to preserve bigger tracts of land, to connect reserves by corridors, and thus to limit urban and suburban sprawl.

A more progressive approach to addressing environmental problems will recognize the value of mountain lions, and will make a commitment, not only to their survival, but to their dominance upon our remaining natural landscape.

To learn more about coexisting with wildlife, see the Mountain Lion Facts page at MountainLion.org.

OVERVIEW
Launched in mid-2008, the Bay Area Puma Project (BAPP) is the first major study of mountain lions in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Felidae Conservation Fund, UC Santa Cruz, and the California Department of Fish and Game have teamed up for a 10-year research and conservation effort to increase our understanding of our native apex predator. Using innovative GPS-accelerometer collars, coupled with extensive outreach and education, BAPP seeks not only to study the Bay Area’s puma population, but also to build public interest and support for protecting this keystone species in its natural habitat, and thereby help ensure healthy and sustainable ecosystems.

CURRENT STATUS
• Loss and fragmentation of critical habitat
• Disappearance of puma movement corridors
• Compromised genetic diversity of population
• More frequent human-puma encounters
• More pumas killed crossing roads
• Livestock and pet casualties growing
• Depredation permits increasing
• Tensions building in local communities

The mountain lion is known by many names (puma, cougar, panther, catamount, shadow cat, ghost cat, screamer). Though it has the largest home range of any land animal, it has historically tended to avoid people. However, with persistent human population growth, especially in the Bay Area, human-puma conflict is on the rise.

As puma habitat and movement corridors are increasingly invaded by human development, more sightings and encounters with pumas are inevitable. Pumas are being killed more often by cars and depredation permits (issued when livestock or pets are attacked), and increasing news reports of puma encounters are driving growing public concern. With human encroachment continuing to degrade wildlife habitat, it is vital to address these issues before it’s too late. People must learn to co-exist with all species, in complete ecosystems, in order for the natural world to sustain for future generations.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
• Track, carefully capture and tag pumas for monitoring
• Generate GPS-accelerometer data on locations and body motions
• Analyze puma interactions with both the natural and human world
• Evaluate puma behavioral response to increased human activity
• Generate maps and animations showing key habitats and corridors

Previously, even basic facts about the Bay Area’s puma population were unknown. BAPP research will produce unprecedented understanding about this furtive species, including range, density, movement, feeding patterns, and the effects of human development, such as roads, on puma populations. Working with landowners and state agencies, BAPP scientists are using custom GPS-accelerometer collars to track and record pumas and their activities in 3D on a continual basis.

By analyzing the data and creating maps and animations, we can better understand the dynamics of the puma population, the critical role they play in maintaining the health and balance of the ecosystem, and the challenges this keystone species faces while traversing an ever more fragmented landscape. The insights gained from this research will enable us to develop new conservation and land use strategies to minimize human-puma conflict, and foster a healthy co-existence between humans and pumas in the region.

OUTREACH AND EDUCATION
• Local community meetings and involvement
• Classroom presentations and field trips
• Interactive online experiences

A key focus of BAPP is to build public understanding about pumas and ecosystems, and the effect of human activities on the natural world. In meetings with local communities, the BAPP team dispels fears and reassures residents by replacing myths with facts, and by helping people stay informed on the project and its findings.

In presentations and on field trips with Bay Area students, many of whom were raised in suburban settings with little or no connection to nature, learning about BAPP’s local wildlife science gives students a deeper appreciation for their environment, and encourages their commitment to creating a world that people and wildlife can share peacefully.

The Internet age has created entirely new avenues for projects like BAPP to reach young people. By offering a mobile game, an interactive web portal, and social networking activities, BAPP is reaching out to young people in their native digital tongue.

CONSERVATION GOALS
• Protection of movement corridors
• Permanent habitat preservation
• Increased awareness and support

BAPP’s primary goal is to convince local communities and policy makers of the importance of preserving wild pumas within the ecosystems of the Bay Area. If movement corridors are protected, healthy populations of the puma will sustain and ecosystems will remain in natural balance. And by permanently securing critical habitat, we can ensure that viable puma populations will persist, with minimal human encroachment.

One of the most important aspects of BAPP is raising awareness and support in the surrounding communities. BAPP is initiating a public dialog regarding pumas, Bay Area wildlife, and the fragile ecological balance that is rapidly vanishing. With better understanding, we can create a future where people appreciate the significance of protecting this treasure of biodiversity we take for granted.

HOW YOU CAN HELP
• Request an Event •
If you’re in a school or community organization, and you want your group
to learn more about pumas and BAPP, email info@felidaefund.org with  your suggestion for an event or presentation. We will arrange for a BAPP team member to visit your group and teach about pumas and the project.

• Offer to Volunteer •
We have a wide range of volunteer opportunities for motivated people who care about our local habitats and species. You can help us with events, create informational materials, develop technology, and much more. If you’re interested, send email to info@felidaefund.org and tell us about yourself.

• Spread the Word •
Another great way to help is to spread the word. We have a Facebook Group facebook.com/felidaefund and a Facebook Cause causes.com/felidaefund with the latest news and events. By joining these, and telling your friends, you can stay informed and help us preserve local pumas and their habitats!

• Make a Donation •
BAPP’s funding comes largely from concerned individuals, corporations and small foundations. The best way to make a donation is visit our site at www.felidaefund.org and select from a range of options for supporting the project, from our online donation page to our Adopt-A-Puma program.

To Learn More or Get Involved, visit www.BAPP.org and www.FelidaeFund.org

SCIENTIFIC NAME
Puma concolor – Cat of one color

COMMON NAMES
Puma concolor is listed in dictionaries under more names than any other animal in the world.  There are at least 18 South American native terms, 25 native North American, and 40 English names for mountain lions.  The species’ most common names are:

Mountain lion, cougar, panther, puma, painter, catamount, concolor, cat of one color, cat of many names, mountain cat, mountain screamer, tyger, ghost walker, klandagi, cuguacuarana, leopardo, koe-ishto, ko-icto, and el leon.

APPEARANCE
The mountain lion is tan in color, with black tipped ears and tail. Adults weigh 80 to 180 pounds and stand two to three feet high at the shoulders. The length of an adult lion is 6 to 8 feet from the nose to the tip of the tail. The tail measures one-third of the lions length. Mountain lion kittens have camouflaging spots and rings around their tails.

BEHAVIOR
Mountain lions are calm, quiet and elusive. They prefer areas with dense undergrowth and cover, and will leave an area where they perceive a threat. Mountain lions live solitary lives, spacing themselves across their habitat by marking and defending areas known as home ranges. Home ranges contain resources cougars need to survive: hunting areas, water sources, safe resting places, lookouts, and for females, safe places to raise young. Although lions are solitary unless mating or accompanied by their young, their territories will often overlap those of the opposite sex, and only occasionally overlap with those of the same sex. A males home range is generally larger than a females. The home territories of mountain lions can cover hundreds of square miles, depending on the availability of prey, time of year, and changes in the local vegetation.

DIET
An opportunistic hunter, mountain lions eat prey that is familiar and easily available. They hunt alone from dusk to dawn, taking their prey primarily from behind. Mountain lions primary prey is deer, but they also feed on wild hogs, raccoons, rabbits, porcupines, and birds. A mountain lion may kill a deer every one to four weeks. They often drag their kill to another area and then cover it with dry leaves, grass or pine needles known as caching to protect it from other animals and to reduce spoilage. A lion often returns to the kill several times to feed, for a period of three days to one week.

As one of North Americas largest predators, mountain lions play an essential role in maintaining the health of deer populations. Cougars often prey on the sick, weak, young, and old deer, which helps to control disease and keeps the deer herds strong. Also, they keep deer populations from growing too large or staying in an area for too long and over-browsing their habitat. Over-browsing can threaten native plants and also destroy important habitat for song birds and other animals.

DISTRIBUTION
America’s lion has roamed throughout the Americas for at least 50,000 years.  From deserts to humid coast forests, lions live from sea level to snow-covered mountains. They once ranged from coast to coast and from South America into Northern Canada.  Today, because of habitat loss and efforts to exterminate mountain lions in North America, sustainable populations exist in only 12 Western U.S. states, and the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Alberta. A small population exists in the Black Hills of South Dakota, and an endangered population in the tip of Florida (the Florida panther). Mountain lions prefer areas with dense undergrowth and cover, and will leave an area where they perceive a threat. Research has shown that mountain lions often change their movement patterns to avoid human occupied areas, or areas where humans are most active.

ABILITIES
Mountain lions are incredible predators with an adaptability to a wide variety of habitats and prey species.
Mountain lions can:

*  bound up to 40 feet running
*  leap 15 feet up a tree
*  climb over a 12 foot fence
*  walk many miles at 10 mph
*  reach speeds of 50 mph in a sprint

Lions sense movement more accurately than they see detail. Seeing in pixilated mosaics, their wide angle and night vision is much greater than our own.  A lion’s hearing is acutely sensitive, far beyond human range.  Their ears move independently to pinpoint the source of sounds.

For more information visit MountainLion.org

Levels of carbon dioxide have varied only between 180 and 300 parts per million over the last 800,000 years, until recent decades. The last time the modern atmospheric CO2 level of 387 parts per million was sustained occurred 15-20 million years ago.

The global warming tipping point has typically been defined as temperature increases above 2°C from pre-industrial levels or a 450 parts per million atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases. The year 2050 is the date commonly set by scientists to achieve the GHG emission reductions necessary for climate stabilization. The emission reduction scenario set by California Assembly Bill 32 and Executive Order 5-3-05, whereby emissions are reduced to 1990 levels by 2020 and then to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050, is consistent with a GHG stabilization scenario in the +/- 450 ppm range.

California Historical & Projected July Temperature Increases 1961-2099

California’s oak woodlands provide habitat for nearly half of the 632 terrestrial vertebrates found in the state but they are under threat from development and climate change. Acorns are a key resource for 40 different wildlife species such as deer, squirrels, turkeys, jays, quail and bear. Standing dead trees are an important habitat resource in oak woodlands for animals including raptors, bats, salamanders, and lizards. Coarse woody tree material lying on the ground, particularly large logs, are a very important wildlife habitat element because they retain moisture in a relatively dry ecosystem. Oak woodlands near riparian resources like creeks, rivers or lakes support the greatest number of wildlife species.

Based on the latest University of California figures, it has been estimated that since 1990 California has converted 325,000 acres of oak woodlands habitat to non-forest use. The peer-reviewed publication Oaks 2040 found that up to 750,000 acres of oak resources are at risk of conversion by 2040 and calculates that in addition to habitat loss, “up to 33 million tons of sequestered carbon are at risk of entering the atmosphere should development processes eliminate these oak woodlands and forests, and their associated carbon pools.”

A recent scientific study found that, ‘‘California’s native plant species are so vulnerable to global climate change that two-thirds of them could suffer 80 percent reduction in their geographic range by the end of the 21st century.” University of California research examining the effects of California temperature increases on blue and valley oaks “found that the areas of the state where the climate is suitable for these species to grow will shift northward and could shrink to nearly half their current size as a result of global warming.”

Potential modern (light blue and brown) and future (brown and green) distributions of

blue oak and valley oak in California

Thus, the more oak woodlands are converted to non-forest use, the greater the rise in California temperatures and the greater the temperature increases, the faster oaks will disappear from the California landscape. Wildlife species dependent on oak woodlands habitat attributes will have no alternative but to migrate with the oak forests or perish.

California Wildlife Foundation/California Oaks Project

Oakland, CA 94612

www.californiawildlifefoundation.org

www.californiaoaks.org