A permit to shoot and possibly kill a mountain lion was granted to a ranch owner in the mountains above Malibu Monday, when a state game warden determined the lion was the culprit in the killing of a dozen farm animals over the weekend.
Ten alpaca were killed at one ranch near Mulholland Highway at Decker Canyon Road Saturday. At a second, nearby location, one goat and another alpaca were torn apart Sunday. A depredation order was issued late in the afternoon, under a state law that allows a person to shoot a mountain lion if it has been killing livestock or pets. Mountain lions are not endangered or
protected in California, but the lions living in the Santa Monica
Mountains are cut off from the rest of the animals by freeways. Although
federal parks officials have been encouraging efforts to accommodate
the mountain lions, it falls to the state Department of Fish and
Wildlife to handle wayward cats that attack livestock. The state's
policy is to not trap and relocate wayward lions, but to allow them to
be killed. "The lion is obviously
killing for sport -- not food," said Mary-Dee Rickards, who lies on a
nearby ranch, in a statement to KBUU radio. "I
know everyone who lives up here not only respects but enjoys the
beautiful wildlife," she said. "But this has gone beyond a peaceful
co-existence with the animals."...more
Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.
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