What Tracking Mountain Lions Taught Me About Adaptability

What Tracking Mountain Lions Taught Me About Adaptability

When I was 16, I trekked miles and miles of less traveled trails in Sonoma County, California, looking for mountain lion dens and places where mountain lions ate their prey. (Puma, puma, leopard, and cougar are all names for the same species.) As a intern for live with lions project, I studied how humans and top predators coexist in shared areas.

Unfortunately, I soon discovered that humans don’t share well.

A mountain lion lounges in a cottonwood tree on a hot day in Colorado. photo: Justin Shoemaker/USFWS Mountain Prairie through creative sharing

That summer in Sonoma, I was led by my mentor, Alex Hettena, a man with rattails and baggy hiking pants who could answer any cougar-related questions . “Now we can go to places that are too dangerous to go alone,” she said as she welcomed me on my first day.

The other day, I saw a half-eaten fawn—the puma’s “snack” to be eaten later. I followed Alex through Manzanita tunnels and overgrown poison oak, and followed her straight up crumbling hillsides and across dry riverbeds. I am excited. exhausted.

Then I learned about the battle going on land In California, residents have spread from cities to rural areas that often overlap with mountain lion territory. At the same time, changing weather conditions are driving cougar prey to greener urban pastures, bringing the animals into urban centers. This has led to increased confrontation between humans and cougars.

As Californians build more homes and build new highways, they’re shrinking the mountain lion’s territory, keeping the mountain lion on a restricted menu and occasionally driving them to eat sheep or dogs to survive. This often prompts landowners to apply for a plundering permit, which entitles them to kill the animal if the mountain lion threatens human life or property.

The hardest part of my job is convincing landowners not to submit a plunder permit.Human attacks on mountain lions soar to kill more than 100 a year since 2017 loot file and 100 deaths unintentional vehicle collisions occur each year in California alone.This is a major blow to mid-size small businesses population There are 4,000 to 6,000 mountain lions living in California.

In stark contrast, the state has a total of six dead It has been attacked by mountain lions since 1890. This proves that humans are the real predators in California.

The sites Alex and I visit are usually on private land, which leads us to running to countless country houses asking if we can get into the landowner’s backyard.

Usually, the landlord will be willing to go with us. Perhaps it was for the personal pleasure, but more often than not, they feared for the safety of two young women hunting cougars in the backcountry.

Amy Stanfield holds the skull of a California mountain lion cub she found while tracking a lioness. rare Mountain lions live past the age of five in areas where they are hunted sportily.Photo: Amy Stanfield

I remember one guy asking to join us. He fastened the sun-crisp laces of his battered leather boots, and fastened the pistol to his belt. I could sense the stoicism he displayed as he assumed his role as our team’s protector, but I also saw fear beneath his heroic exterior. I noticed he was uneasy with these large creatures roaming his backyard – or should I say lion’s backyard?

“Sometimes I just want to shoot the damn thing,” he grunted as we walked in the woods.

Then I stopped because all the interactions I had with the landowners flooded back to me. I thought about how depressing it would be to lose companionship or a source of livelihood through the death of a dog or cow.

But I also recognize that it can be tiresome to go out into nature, destroy it, and show surprise when local wildlife bites back. Cougars are vital to ecosystems, and if we choose to expand our habitat, we also have a responsibility to know about them, protect them, and learn to live with them—rather than choosing to live in fear.

I know the thought of living with a mountain lion in your backyard can be scary. However, the more we learn about them, the less scary they become. Research Showing that pumas have successfully adapted to city life. They are opportunistic creatures – generalists who can eat basically anything and live anywhere. But they still aren’t interested in preying on humans.

Instead, these big cats maintain biodiversity Allow vegetation to flourish and bring vibrant life by controlling deer and elk populations. The influx of animals increases genetic diversity, allowing species to adapt to environmental changes. The insects break down the cougar’s prey, releasing nutrients in the soil, providing stability for plant growth and improving water quality.

despite this, adaptability Awareness of cougars is not widely recognized, and fear prevents people from learning about and learning from these creatures.

If cougars can keep pace in a rapidly changing environment, what prevents humans from doing the same?

We live beyond our environmental constraints. The general human tendency to flee urban centers to rural areas in search of natural conveniences and idealized lifestyles has its downsides. This results in increased road traffic emissions, reduced open space and negative impacts on wildlife.

Removal of cougars via a predation permit is not valid. In doing so, there is a good chance that multiple young males will enter unfamiliar territory and cause more damage. It also creates imbalances in our fragile ecosystems by limiting keystone predators, species that have a huge impact on entire ecosystems.

To maintain a healthy environment and promote biodiversity, Californians need to learn to share their land.

Amy Stanfield is a graduate student MSc in Sustainability Management Columbia University courses.