Hunting Cougar

I am going to go out on a limb here, like the “wild kitty” that I am and take issue with persons who want to declare open season on mountain lions. I’m having a severe case of déjà vu. Things are still in an uproar over taking wolves off the endangered species list. Now in California the issue is whether the mountain lion or cougar should be reinstated as legal game. Proposition 117 made it illegal to take, injure, possess, transport, or sell a cougar or any part of a cougar. The proposition while stating that the cougar is a “specially protected species” does not declare them rare, but the truth is, where they used to be found in most states, now the majority of their numbers are only in California. Cougar attacks on humans are rare. There have been only 16 verified attacks on humans in California since the late 1890’s. Statistically speaking, a person is more likely to be struck by lightening than attacked by a mountain lion. While open hunting of cougars is restricted, ranchers and farmers who have a depredation permit can still take a lion which is killing livestock; which is as it should be.