Editor's note: The following article was written by Kate Kuykendall of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area staff.
This young mountain lion, P34, apparently died from consuming rat poison/NPS
Three young mountain lions have been found dead in the Santa Monica Mountains in recent weeks, illustrating how difficult it can be for the large carnivores to survive into adulthood in such an urbanized and fragmented landscape.
"If you're a mountain lion in the Santa Monica Mountains, this is just not an easy place to grow up," said Dr. Seth Riley, wildlife ecologist for the National Park Service. "From our roads to rat poisons to potentially increased interactions with other mountains lions, it is very difficult for young animals to make it to adulthood, establish their own home range and reproduce."
P-34, a juvenile female researchers began following when she was only three weeks old, was found by a runner on a trail in Point Mugu State Park on September 30.
Based on the preliminary results of a necropsy, which showed significant amounts of free blood in her chest cavity and around her heart, it appears that she died as a result of rodenticide poisoning. Wounds on her face and body indicated she had been in a fight just before her death, likely with another lion, but they were superficial and were not the direct cause of death.
National Park Service research has documented widespread exposure to rodenticides, also known as rat poisons, among wildlife in and around the Santa Monica Mountains. Two other mountain lions and many coyotes have died directly as a result of poisoning, and exposure to the poisons has been associated with a severe disease epidemic in bobcats.
P-34 made headlines last December when she was discovered lounging under a trailer in a mobile home park in Newbury Park. Earlier that day a resident snapped a stunning photo of P-34 walking in her backyard. Her sibling, P-32, was struck and killed by a vehicle on Interstate 5 this August after making a remarkable journey out of the Santa Monica Mountains.
In a separate incident last month, National Park Service biologist Jeff Sikich found the remains of P-43 and a previously unknown sibling in a remote part of the eastern Santa Monica Mountains. The two kittens were only three months old. P-43 was marked by biologists at three or four weeks of age and biologists at the time thought she was the only kitten in the litter.
The young kittens had been consumed by another animal. Forensic DNA results from UCLA will potentially provide more information on the species of animal involved in the attack and may even identify the specific individual, if it was one of the study's collared mountain lions.
P-43's mother, P-23, has had two litters of kittens and both litters have now been killed by other animals. Gridlocked, the urban wildlife blog for Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, has more details about these cases of infanticide.
Infanticide is a form of intra-specific conflict, which is the number one cause of death since the National Park Service began studying mountain lions in and around the Santa Monica Mountains in 2002. The purpose of the study is to determine how they survive in an increasingly urbanized environment.
Scientists are currently tracking 10 animals in the region.
Comments
Please stop using rat poison and let the natural predators that are so good at controlling rodents do their job. This is an active, ongoing environmental catastrophe--we are killing hawks, owls, bobcats, mountain lions, foxes, and others--from something as senseless and "convenient" as rat poison when there are other non-toxic methods of rodent control. Rat poison may be "out of sight, out of mind," but these tragic deaths are the end result. www.raptorsarethesolution.org
PEOPLE NEED TO REALIZE , YOU ARE MOVING IN ON THEIR LAND AND HABITAT , IT SHOULD BE ILLEGAL TO USE ANY FORCE OR POISONS ON THESE ANIMALS IN AREAS UNLESS YOU ARE IN IMINNENT DANGER , AND THEN THER SHOULD BE AN INVESTIGATION AS TO WHY THEY HAD TO KILL THE ANIMAL , AND IF THERE WERE OTHER ALTERNATIVES, THEN THE KILLER NEEDS JAIL TIME JUS TLIKE IN ANY OTHER MURDER WHETHER IT'S HUMAN OR ANIMAL , ESPECIALLY ANIMALS SINCE THEY MAY BECOME EXTINCT BECAUSE OF HUMANS IMPINGING ON THEIR LAND . WE ARE NO MORE IMPORTANT IN THE ECO SYSTEM THAN THEY ARE , WE ARE ALL HERE FOR A REASON AND IF YOU MOVE IN THE LANDS OF THE ANIMALS , EXPECT THEM TO BE THERE, OR DON'T GO THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE.
Barbara - no need to yell. And yes, we are more important.
Thank you Lisa and Barbara, I am in agreement. As habitat for wildlife becomes increasingly fractured and human expansion continues to increase with all the associated activities, poisons, high speed roads, etc., it is a real concern. For example here in California over the last 100 years plus, we have reduced our freshwater wetlands by 90%. I do think Dr. Runte expresses the issue of population growth and all the development necessary to handle it very well. Thank you for your activism, I think we do need to yell occasionally,
Ron, are you willing to sacrifice your lifestyle, or even life, for the mountain lion? How about for the snail darter? Easy to preach, easier to yell, but much harder to live the sermon.
EC, a fair question. I am not sure how much I could sacrifice, but I think we can do much. For starters, we can make a greater effort to re-cycle, quit using plastic bags, bottled water, cut down on our driving where possible, slow down on roads, etc. Small things but can add much. On a level above my own humble opinions, supporting some restraint on how we use public lands, or private as far as that goes, Supporting education at high levels to include all income groups and communities. Classes should include family planning (sex education) for both males and females, some serious discussion of income inequality, empowerment of women, etc. well, I think you know the list as well as I. All the above are difficult. I just spent a couple of days at the Monterey Bay Aquarium thanks to a friend who is a docent there. There are a couple of displays both on climate change and ocean pollution, unfortunately, the presentations are meekly stated (in my view), and placed in an out of the way area. In talking to many of the docents, I mentioned the above thoughts and was told that many of the visitors just do not want to think about those issues, I can understand that, but it does help solve the problem. In any case, yes I am trying to cut back, downsize, but maybe it is because of my age and its time to make things simply. . Again EC, a fair question.
Excellent reply, Ron.
If each of us does a little, many of us will do a lot.
The old and very tired strawman that tries to declare that we will all have to return to cave dwelling is one of the most unimaginative of a number of dodges used by those whose sense of entitlement supercedes their sense of responsibility.
Agreed, Anon. I'm so tired of seeing stories like this one.