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Focus: Sport Hunting and Livestock Protection
In the western US, most conflicts between mountain lions and domestic animals involve sheep grazed on public and private lands and to a lesser extent cattle and calves. Sport hunting is frequently justified as a technique for reducing mountain lion and other predator attacks on livestock and other domestic animals, under the assumption that reducing the number of mountain lions in an area will reduce conflicts.
Yet, the Cougar Management Guidelines, written by 13 leading mountain lion researchers and managers, state “Short-term, non-selective cougar population reduction [as occurs via sport hunting] has not been demonstrated to reduce depredation” on livestock or domestic animals (CMGWG 2005).
For the purposes of this study, we reasoned:
If sport hunting actually reduces mountain lion attacks on livestock then states where mountain lions are sport hunted should consistently lose a smaller percentage of livestock (e.g., sheep and cattle) to mountain lions compared to California, where mountain lions are not sport hunted.
To test this assumption, we compared data published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistical Service (NASS) on reported losses of domestic sheep and cattle to mountain lions.for domestic sheep in 1994, 1999 and 2004 and cattle in 1995 and 2000 (NASS 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2005). NASS does not consider livestock inventories or losses in Canada.
According to NASS:
- Six U.S. states which have sport hunting of mountain lions reported a higher percentage of sheep and lambs killed by mountain lions than did California (Figure 4).
- Four U.S. states which have sport hunting of mountain lions reported a roughly equivalent or larger percentage of cattle and calves killed by mountain lions and bobcats than did California (Figure 5). [Note: NASS statistics do not distinguish between mountain lion and bobcat attacks on cattle so the actual percentage killed by mountain lions is smaller than presented.]
Figure 4. Percentage of domestic sheep reported killed by mountain lions Source: NASS (1995, 2000, 2005)
Figure 5. Percent of cattle reported killed by mountain lions and bobcats. Source: NASS (1996, 2001)
Contrary to our assumptions, states where mountain lions are sport hunted did not consistently report a smaller percentage of livestock killed by mountain lions than did California. In fact, overall states with sport hunting lost a larger percentage of domestic sheep to mountain lions than did California.
These results do not support claims that sport hunting reduces mountain lion attacks on livestock.
These findings are consistent with the Cougar Management Guidelines as well as with the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (1995) statement that “Short of total eradication [of mountain lions], livestock losses will still occur in occupied lion habitat, depending on terrain, stocking rates, and availability of alternate prey.”
There are several reasons why sport hunting does not appear to be a suitable technique for reducing mountain lion-livestock conflicts over the long-term:
- Not all mountain lions attack livestock even when livestock is available (Linnell et al. 1999).
- Sport hunters may be unwilling or unable to target those individuals more likely to be involved in conflicts (Jackson and Nowell 1996).
- Killing resident mountain lions that have not preyed on livestock opens up habitat for other lions which may be more likely to prey on livestock.
- Sport hunting may result in the wounding of mountain lions, which may make them more prone to preying on domestic animals that are easier to catch than wild prey (Linnell et al. 1999).
- Long-term reduction in conflicts using lethal control may require killing a large percentage of mountain lions in an area over many years, yet sport hunting rarely results in these levels of removal (CMGWG 2005).
A growing body of information indicates that improved animal husbandry practices may provide a more effective technique for reducing conflicts involving mountain lions and livestock over the long-term.
Click here for information on keeping pets and livestock safe in mountain lion country.
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