The young male hit by a car Tuesday near Getty Center Drive may have been on a journey to claim his own territory, a wildlife official who had been tracking him says.
The 15-month-old lion, called P-18 by researchers, was part of a litter of kittens born in the Santa Monica Mountains and had been tagged with radio telemetry equipment. "We have been studying these lions for the past 10 years," said Woody Smeck, superintendent of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.
According to Officer Ed Jacobs of the California Highway Patrol, "It looks like they hit [the cat] and kept on trucking. It's pretty rare. ... I don't think I have ever heard of one [being hit] there."
A few months ago, the lion left his mother's range within Malibu Creek State Park and began moving through the mountains."He was moving east," Smeck said. "He may have been trying to leave the territory of another dominant male in the area."
Male lions need a large area to roam, Smeck said. In fact, in the whole Santa Monica Mountains range there have been only two males tagged throughout the course of research. As the males mature, they often seek out space away from other dominant males and "many get killed by dominant males," he said.
"The fact that they even exist here is remarkable," Smeck said. "It is a testament to the conservation efforts to save open space."
P-18 had been tracked since he was 3 weeks old, according to the SMMNRA. The organization also said that scientists with the National Park Service have been studying the local lion population since 2002 and previous tracking records indicate that it's common for individual males to roam the entire range of the Santa Monica Mountains, stretching from Camarillo to the 405 freeway.
In the last decade, 21 mountain lions have been fitted with GPS collars and tracked utilizing radio telemetry, including P-18's father, P-12, according to a release by the SMMNRA. P-12 made the only known successful crossing of a freeway, the 101, in 2009 and has since resided in the Santa Monica Mountains.
Smeck estimates that in the past eight years, there have been about a half dozen mountain lions killed while attempting to cross freeways and interstates to travel outside the domain of the Santa Monica Mountains. In the past three years, he said there have been two documented cases of lions killed near the area where P-18 was struck.
Manmade structures and roads, especially freeways, are known to impede the migrations and movements of a variety of wildlife, presenting barriers that inhibit the ability of mountain lions and other animals to breed and maintain genetic diversity.
Caltrans and a number of organizations are working collaboratively to construct wildlife crossings that would allow animals the crucial ability to travel between different areas of protected parkland in the Santa Susana Mountains and Los Padres National Forest, according to a release from the SMMNRA. Freeways being considered for such projects include the 101, the 118 and the 405.
"Investing in connected pieces of parkland and constructing wildlife crossings along major freeways around Los Angeles is essential for long term mountain lion survival in the Santa Monica Mountains," Smeck said in the release. "Mountain lions must be able to move freely between large parklands with suitable habitat throughout the course of their daily movements, as well as exchange genetic material to prevent inbreeding in specific parkland areas like the Santa Monica Mountains."
According to Officer Ed Jacobs of the California Highway Patrol, "It looks like they hit [the cat] and kept on trucking. It's pretty rare. ... I don't think I have ever heard of one [being hit] there."
A few months ago, the lion left his mother's range within Malibu Creek State Park and began moving through the mountains."He was moving east," Smeck said. "He may have been trying to leave the territory of another dominant male in the area."
Male lions need a large area to roam, Smeck said. In fact, in the whole Santa Monica Mountains range there have been only two males tagged throughout the course of research. As the males mature, they often seek out space away from other dominant males and "many get killed by dominant males," he said.
"The fact that they even exist here is remarkable," Smeck said. "It is a testament to the conservation efforts to save open space."
P-18 had been tracked since he was 3 weeks old, according to the SMMNRA. The organization also said that scientists with the National Park Service have been studying the local lion population since 2002 and previous tracking records indicate that it's common for individual males to roam the entire range of the Santa Monica Mountains, stretching from Camarillo to the 405 freeway.
In the last decade, 21 mountain lions have been fitted with GPS collars and tracked utilizing radio telemetry, including P-18's father, P-12, according to a release by the SMMNRA. P-12 made the only known successful crossing of a freeway, the 101, in 2009 and has since resided in the Santa Monica Mountains.
Smeck estimates that in the past eight years, there have been about a half dozen mountain lions killed while attempting to cross freeways and interstates to travel outside the domain of the Santa Monica Mountains. In the past three years, he said there have been two documented cases of lions killed near the area where P-18 was struck.
Manmade structures and roads, especially freeways, are known to impede the migrations and movements of a variety of wildlife, presenting barriers that inhibit the ability of mountain lions and other animals to breed and maintain genetic diversity.
Caltrans and a number of organizations are working collaboratively to construct wildlife crossings that would allow animals the crucial ability to travel between different areas of protected parkland in the Santa Susana Mountains and Los Padres National Forest, according to a release from the SMMNRA. Freeways being considered for such projects include the 101, the 118 and the 405.
"Investing in connected pieces of parkland and constructing wildlife crossings along major freeways around Los Angeles is essential for long term mountain lion survival in the Santa Monica Mountains," Smeck said in the release. "Mountain lions must be able to move freely between large parklands with suitable habitat throughout the course of their daily movements, as well as exchange genetic material to prevent inbreeding in specific parkland areas like the Santa Monica Mountains."
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Cougar trackers still 'hopeful' they'll find cat that attacked boy
By Cindy E. Harnett
Cougar trackers, using specially trained dogs, bushwhacked through dense, temperate rainforest Wednesday in search of the animal that attacked an 18-month old boy this week.
"We've done an extensive search. Unfortunately, as yet, we haven't been able to find the cat," said Dani Thompson, one of the search leaders, said from Kennedy Lake in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve. "But we're picking up various trails and we're still very hopeful."
Through the thick foliage and on paths of wet sand, cobble, muck and rock, a dedicated team of highly trained cougar hounds, conservation officers, Parks Canada and B.C. Parks trackers, West Coast Inland Search and Rescue, tribal park officials and volunteers were searching, often just for a lingering scent or single paw print, tree scratch or leaf pile.
The challenging environment is the biggest hurdle in the hunt, said Thompson, a Parks Canada resource manager and an expertise in cougar-human conflict prevention. "It's slow going," she said. In this challenging terrain, when trackers spot the nailless, stubby, four-toed print of a cougar, or when dogs catch a whiff of the predatory animal, it can be another kilometre or more until they pick up another sign, Thompson said.
When searching for pack animals, such as wolves, the job is easier, but when searching for a solitary animal whose instinct is to hide in dense brush and covered areas, the task is much tougher."Looking for a single track, that in itself, can be very difficult," Thompson said.Dogs are the trackers' greatest asset. If they find the cougar it will cause the big cat to run up a tree. Trackers are also using snares, live traps and their own skills at spotting territorial cougar markings, or possibly a mound of earth where the cat urinated or a leaf pyramid covering feces.If caught, the animal will be sedated and killed, Thompson said. "This particular animal has definitely shown predatory behaviour and the risk to public safety is too great," Thompson said.
Monday's attack is extremely rare in the national park and Parks Canada takes the incident very seriously, she said. Protection of the public is one of its key mandates.
However, Paul Paquet, senior scientist for Raincoast Conservation Foundation, who has a doctorate in zoology, said protection of wildlife is also in the mandate.
Paquet, who co-authored a major report on cougars for the B.C. government, said his research has shown that it is unlikely that trackers can reliably determine if they have caught the targeted cougar.
"They may track and find a cougar and kill it, but to determine definitively whether it's the animal responsible for the attack is next to impossible at this point," Paquet said.
Officials will try to match the wound impressions in the child to the cougar's teeth. However, attempts by Paquet to match simulated impressions with skulls during his studies shows "there's so much overlap you couldn't tell reliably - unless there's something so distinctive in the tooth itself," he said.
The kill "is effective in relieving public fear," but it may not bring Parks Canada any closer to protecting the public, he said.
About 10,000 people have been killed by hunters in North America since 1950, Paquet added.
Through the thick foliage and on paths of wet sand, cobble, muck and rock, a dedicated team of highly trained cougar hounds, conservation officers, Parks Canada and B.C. Parks trackers, West Coast Inland Search and Rescue, tribal park officials and volunteers were searching, often just for a lingering scent or single paw print, tree scratch or leaf pile.
The challenging environment is the biggest hurdle in the hunt, said Thompson, a Parks Canada resource manager and an expertise in cougar-human conflict prevention. "It's slow going," she said. In this challenging terrain, when trackers spot the nailless, stubby, four-toed print of a cougar, or when dogs catch a whiff of the predatory animal, it can be another kilometre or more until they pick up another sign, Thompson said.
When searching for pack animals, such as wolves, the job is easier, but when searching for a solitary animal whose instinct is to hide in dense brush and covered areas, the task is much tougher."Looking for a single track, that in itself, can be very difficult," Thompson said.Dogs are the trackers' greatest asset. If they find the cougar it will cause the big cat to run up a tree. Trackers are also using snares, live traps and their own skills at spotting territorial cougar markings, or possibly a mound of earth where the cat urinated or a leaf pyramid covering feces.If caught, the animal will be sedated and killed, Thompson said. "This particular animal has definitely shown predatory behaviour and the risk to public safety is too great," Thompson said.
Monday's attack is extremely rare in the national park and Parks Canada takes the incident very seriously, she said. Protection of the public is one of its key mandates.
However, Paul Paquet, senior scientist for Raincoast Conservation Foundation, who has a doctorate in zoology, said protection of wildlife is also in the mandate.
Paquet, who co-authored a major report on cougars for the B.C. government, said his research has shown that it is unlikely that trackers can reliably determine if they have caught the targeted cougar.
"They may track and find a cougar and kill it, but to determine definitively whether it's the animal responsible for the attack is next to impossible at this point," Paquet said.
Officials will try to match the wound impressions in the child to the cougar's teeth. However, attempts by Paquet to match simulated impressions with skulls during his studies shows "there's so much overlap you couldn't tell reliably - unless there's something so distinctive in the tooth itself," he said.
The kill "is effective in relieving public fear," but it may not bring Parks Canada any closer to protecting the public, he said.
About 10,000 people have been killed by hunters in North America since 1950, Paquet added.
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