Poaching or trophy hunting and depredation permits have all impacted the puma population across the United States. Between 1907 and 1972 around 12,500 pumas were killed for bounty and sport in California (Williams, 2018). Since most pumas were killed in California it helped push policy to protect them in the state and in 1990 California banned sport hunting of pumas (CDFW, 2019; MLF History, 2020). In Wyoming a hunter is allowed one puma hunting license per calendar year and may only hunt and bag one puma per valid license in accordance with age and sex of the species, in this case a puma (WGFC Mountain Lion Hunting Seasons, 2020). In Arizona you must have a hunting license and a puma tag in order to hunt pumas and can only bag one puma per calendar year (AGFD, 2020). Pumas are not federally protected, instead each state with pumas has the obligation to choose whether or not pumas are protected and how.
Depredation permits are legal permits that people can apply for when a puma, or predator, attacks or preys upon domestic animals (MLF Depredation, 2016). Florida is the only state with pumas that will not issue depredation permits for pumas (MLF Depredation, 2016). In California in 2019 198 depredation permits were issued and 73 pumas were killed (CDFW, 2020). On January 27, 2020 the first radio collared puma was killed under California’s depredation permit (Cholo, 2020). The young male puma P-56 was about four or five years old when he was killed in the Santa Monica Mountains (Cholo, 2020). The property owner took non-lethal deterrent methods but had nine depredation incidents resulting in twelve animals being lost in just two years (Cholo, 2020).
The photo is of P-56 taking a cat nap in the Santa Monica Mountains.
Since the puma population in the Santa Monica and Santa Ana Mountains is in such dire need of help there is a three-strike policy in place prior to obtaining a depredation permit in those areas (Cholo, 2020). Once a domestic animal or pet is injured or killed the property owner must first use non-lethals methods to deter the puma before a depredation permit is issued (Cholo, 2020). Non-lethal methods include penning livestock, having guard dogs, hot wire fencing, motion activated lights and auditory hazing like playing voices or music (Cholo, 2020).
The Mountain Lion Foundation provides great information on how to build Secure Livestock Enclosures. You can build them as a Low Cost Pen, a Mobile Pen, or a Permanent Enclosure. These pens will help keep your livestock safe.
The Mountain Lion Foundation is a nationwide organization that helps to spread awareness and information about pumas. They focus on protecting pumas and their habitat.
Literature Cited
Arizona Game and Fish Department. (2020). Mountain lion hunting in Arizona.
California Department of Fish and Wildlife. (2019). Keep me wild: Mountain lion.
California Department of Fish and Wildlife. (2020, February 20). Annual mountain lion
depredation summary table (2011-2019).
Cholo, A.B. (2020, February 10). Male mountain lion killed under state depredation law.
National Park Service. https://www.nps.gov/samo/learn/news/male-mountain-lion -killed-under-state-depredation-law.htm
Domingo, K. (2019, June 20). Building a mountain lion-proof enclosure [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9oabEMq2rc
Mountain Lion Foundation. (2016). Defining depredation in California.
Mountain Lion Foundation. (2020). History of the mountain lion foundation.
Mountain Lion Foundation. (2017, November 26). Safer livestock safer lions [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZ8fl17h9Jo
Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. (2017, April 12). P-56 [Photograph]. Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/santamonicamtns/49516473558/in/photolist-2irASsJ-aBLyQP-aBPe9C-2fDXsSG-krYvxC-SX1Czg-bCKeCW-9MqLpo-9MqLpq-9MqLps-2fL2AGL-a92sEX-a92taR-a95heW-om4pdy-zbcZHz-KRP2Ha-2jATspM-4cUcEP-BRLWCK-piFUTU-Vozco2-i5nsDA-R1Zyo1-8Hf7YA-6nUMrL-4H5WBJ-bkMsVw-4EWuYz-ovs4Qd-2bNinHg-6pRYkC-22gzEbA-r9eJWy-mr373G-25tQ7uj-2jnSuaK-22gAGkd-pm3AKM-GUDPo1-2hbUZs7-WEban9-cB5VXQ-21m3SsX-5N4FZg-piifbd-Cp4T12-iGVSSd-qnbg3X-2ectbMz
Williams, J. (2018). Path of the puma: The remarkable resilience of the mountain lion.
Patagonia.
Wyoming Game and FIsh Commission. (2020). Mountain lion hunting seasons 2020 2021. https://wgfd.wyo.gov/Regulations/RegulationPDFs/REGULATIONS_CH42_BROCHURE.pdf