More than 1,400 mountain lions across California are now protected by the state’s Endangered Species Act, the state’s fish and game commission announced on Thursday.
The commission unanimously voted to list six groups of central coast and southern California mountain lions under the California Endangered Species Act, meaning the agency determined that they are likely to become extinct without intervention. The affected species can be found from the Bay Area all the way down to the Mexican border.
“This is a major milestone for a California icon,” Tiffany Yap, urban wildlands science director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement.
“Mountain lions are a marvel but too many across the Golden state are struggling in the diminished and fractured wild places where they live. This state isn’t willing to stand back and watch our precious wildlife vanish forever. I’m celebrating this vote as a new chapter for pumas and I hold so much hope for their future.”
The new protections provide a legal mandate for state agencies to protect the felines, and also requires developments proposed in lion habitats to identify and minimize potential harms to the population, with added precautions including more wildlife crossings, road improvements and strong rat poison restrictions.
There are already several measures anticipated to help the struggling population, including a massive wildlife crossing across the 101 freeway.
These particular groups of mountain lions are especially vulnerable due to increasing isolation exacerbated by the loss of habitat, conservationists said. They also face deadly risks in their day-to-day movement, such as car strikes, rat poison and disease.
Ahead of the vote, opponents of the endangered species designation, including the California Farm Bureau, the California Cattlemen’s Association and the California Deer Association, voiced their concerns about the safety risks that the lions pose to people and livestock.
Valerie Termini, acting director of the California department of fish and wildlife, acknowledged that mountain lions are polarizing animals, but that protection was the right decision.
She said that the lions “evoke strong and varied perceptions” on how they should be managed, but “the segment of the population we’re talking about today is clearly at risk from distinct threats”.
