AZ lion culled to aid bighorn sheep
Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 5:46 pm
From the Yuma Sun:
http://www.yumasun.com/news/killing_408 ... _lion.html
Officials announce killing of mountain lion
Comments 21 | Recommend 6
April 3, 2008 - 10:38PM
BY JAMES GILBERT, SUN STAFF WRITER
Officials with the Arizona Game and Fish Department announced the killing of a mountain lion Saturday in the Tank Mountains, east of the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge.
According to Gary Hovatter, information and program manager for the Yuma Game and Fish Office, the lion is the second one to be removed under the department’s May 2007 “Kofa Mountains Complex Predation Management Plan.” It was confirmed as having killed four desert bighorn sheep and five mule deer since being captured and collared by the department in October.
"We have been transparent about these removals since we started this program," Hovatter said. "This is not a plan about mountain lion eradication, it's a plan about bighorn sheep restoration."
Hovatter said the killing was part of the ongoing effort to help restore the declining Kofa Mountains Complex desert bighorn sheep population, which was found to be at historic low numbers during the 2006 population survey.
"This is simply a continuation of the policy we established last May. And this is the second offending lion we have had to remove. We really do have mixed feelings every time we have to remove a lion."
Hovatter explained there is not a more important herd for this subspecies of bighorn sheep anywhere else in the country. He said the Kofa herd was once one of the most robust in the nation and has been a critically important source of transplant sheep for restoring desert bighorn sheep to Arizona and other southwestern United States mountain ranges for 51 years.
Transplants have been suspended until herd populations can be restored .
Back in June 2007, Game and Fish also announced it had killed the first offending lion at Dripping Springs, in the Plomosa-New Water Mountains, northwest of the refuge. When it was killed, officials said it was found guarding a cache of two freshly killed desert bighorn sheep and a mule deer.
"He was probably the largest young male lion out on the refuge," Hovatter stated. "The lion had been preying on desert bighorn sheep in the Kofa Mountains and other surrounding mountain ranges for several months."
A third mountain lion, a young male, was also collared in early June under the program, according to Hovatter. However, its collar came off less than two months later while the lion was roaming outside the refuge's boundaries.
"We are still seeing tracks in the area where he was known to be, so we are pretty sure it's him," Hovatter said. "That lion took a sheep but it was outside the refuge management area so it doesn't count as an offense against him."
Daniel Patterson, southwest director and ecologist for Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, as he did in January, called this latest killing unethical and urged the state agency to stop collaring and killing the mountain lions.
"They are an isolated population of mountain lions, so it's very unique to have them out there. We knew it was only a matter of time before they took another one," Patterson said. "Unless it stops, the state is very likely to kill all of them."
Hovatter explained that the lions that have been killed were both part of a small group of at least five mountain lions that have been spending time on the refuge and have been recorded by remote cameras at water catchments on the refuge over the years.
"We are confident that there are at least two more mountain lions out there," Hovatter said. "It is possible there even could be a third."
Of the estimated three remaining mountain lions, only one is female.
Under Game and Fish's predation management plan, Hovatter explained, a lion is determined to be a "significant threat" to the bighorn sheep herd and can be removed if it takes more than two sheep in a six-month period.
"If the mountain lion never takes a sheep, it won't be removed by us. We picked a standard for our program that only allows us to take a mountain that shows a tendency to feed upon bighorn sheep."
Hovatter explained that other predation management plans are in place at other refuges around the country that are much more strict, some of which allow for mountain lions to removed for just being in the area of a protected herd.
The mountain lion that was killed Saturday was wearing a global positioning collar that allowed Game and Fish officials to track its location.
Hovatter said the collars are programmed to record four of the mountain lion's location points each day. That information is then uploaded to a satellite, he said, which will download it to Game and Fish's computer.
He went on to say mountain lions can kill, on average, at least one large prey animal a week. The three remaining mountain lions, he said, can kill up to 156 animals a year, while the bighorn herd will only produce about 40 yearlings a year.
"It's simple math," Hovatter said. "So the large prey animal is either going to be a mule deer or a bighorn."
Patterson said the collars are basically a death sentence for the mountain lions and doubts they are being used for any type of legitimate scientific purpose.
"Given their behavior, Game and Fish appears to be using these collars to monitor the mountain lions so they can go out and kill them whenever they choose to do so."
Patterson also accused refuge officials of running the refuge as bighorn sheep farm and called for a more balanced approach.
Hovatter said while the five lions were spending enough time on the refuge to be considered "resident" lions, historically the Kofa complex has only had transient populations of lions.
"Based on our research and the past 100 years of records, there has been no indication that until recently that there has been a resident lion population. It's not a great habitat for the lions. They can't sustain themselves here."
Hovatter added that the last mountain lion killed in the Kofa refuge until this past year was in 1944. In the past 13 years of approved mountain lion sport hunting outside the refuge, he said, no lions have ever been taken.
----
James Gilbert can be reached at
jgilbert@yumasun.com or 539-6854.
http://www.yumasun.com/news/killing_408 ... _lion.html
Officials announce killing of mountain lion
Comments 21 | Recommend 6
April 3, 2008 - 10:38PM
BY JAMES GILBERT, SUN STAFF WRITER
Officials with the Arizona Game and Fish Department announced the killing of a mountain lion Saturday in the Tank Mountains, east of the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge.
According to Gary Hovatter, information and program manager for the Yuma Game and Fish Office, the lion is the second one to be removed under the department’s May 2007 “Kofa Mountains Complex Predation Management Plan.” It was confirmed as having killed four desert bighorn sheep and five mule deer since being captured and collared by the department in October.
"We have been transparent about these removals since we started this program," Hovatter said. "This is not a plan about mountain lion eradication, it's a plan about bighorn sheep restoration."
Hovatter said the killing was part of the ongoing effort to help restore the declining Kofa Mountains Complex desert bighorn sheep population, which was found to be at historic low numbers during the 2006 population survey.
"This is simply a continuation of the policy we established last May. And this is the second offending lion we have had to remove. We really do have mixed feelings every time we have to remove a lion."
Hovatter explained there is not a more important herd for this subspecies of bighorn sheep anywhere else in the country. He said the Kofa herd was once one of the most robust in the nation and has been a critically important source of transplant sheep for restoring desert bighorn sheep to Arizona and other southwestern United States mountain ranges for 51 years.
Transplants have been suspended until herd populations can be restored .
Back in June 2007, Game and Fish also announced it had killed the first offending lion at Dripping Springs, in the Plomosa-New Water Mountains, northwest of the refuge. When it was killed, officials said it was found guarding a cache of two freshly killed desert bighorn sheep and a mule deer.
"He was probably the largest young male lion out on the refuge," Hovatter stated. "The lion had been preying on desert bighorn sheep in the Kofa Mountains and other surrounding mountain ranges for several months."
A third mountain lion, a young male, was also collared in early June under the program, according to Hovatter. However, its collar came off less than two months later while the lion was roaming outside the refuge's boundaries.
"We are still seeing tracks in the area where he was known to be, so we are pretty sure it's him," Hovatter said. "That lion took a sheep but it was outside the refuge management area so it doesn't count as an offense against him."
Daniel Patterson, southwest director and ecologist for Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, as he did in January, called this latest killing unethical and urged the state agency to stop collaring and killing the mountain lions.
"They are an isolated population of mountain lions, so it's very unique to have them out there. We knew it was only a matter of time before they took another one," Patterson said. "Unless it stops, the state is very likely to kill all of them."
Hovatter explained that the lions that have been killed were both part of a small group of at least five mountain lions that have been spending time on the refuge and have been recorded by remote cameras at water catchments on the refuge over the years.
"We are confident that there are at least two more mountain lions out there," Hovatter said. "It is possible there even could be a third."
Of the estimated three remaining mountain lions, only one is female.
Under Game and Fish's predation management plan, Hovatter explained, a lion is determined to be a "significant threat" to the bighorn sheep herd and can be removed if it takes more than two sheep in a six-month period.
"If the mountain lion never takes a sheep, it won't be removed by us. We picked a standard for our program that only allows us to take a mountain that shows a tendency to feed upon bighorn sheep."
Hovatter explained that other predation management plans are in place at other refuges around the country that are much more strict, some of which allow for mountain lions to removed for just being in the area of a protected herd.
The mountain lion that was killed Saturday was wearing a global positioning collar that allowed Game and Fish officials to track its location.
Hovatter said the collars are programmed to record four of the mountain lion's location points each day. That information is then uploaded to a satellite, he said, which will download it to Game and Fish's computer.
He went on to say mountain lions can kill, on average, at least one large prey animal a week. The three remaining mountain lions, he said, can kill up to 156 animals a year, while the bighorn herd will only produce about 40 yearlings a year.
"It's simple math," Hovatter said. "So the large prey animal is either going to be a mule deer or a bighorn."
Patterson said the collars are basically a death sentence for the mountain lions and doubts they are being used for any type of legitimate scientific purpose.
"Given their behavior, Game and Fish appears to be using these collars to monitor the mountain lions so they can go out and kill them whenever they choose to do so."
Patterson also accused refuge officials of running the refuge as bighorn sheep farm and called for a more balanced approach.
Hovatter said while the five lions were spending enough time on the refuge to be considered "resident" lions, historically the Kofa complex has only had transient populations of lions.
"Based on our research and the past 100 years of records, there has been no indication that until recently that there has been a resident lion population. It's not a great habitat for the lions. They can't sustain themselves here."
Hovatter added that the last mountain lion killed in the Kofa refuge until this past year was in 1944. In the past 13 years of approved mountain lion sport hunting outside the refuge, he said, no lions have ever been taken.
----
James Gilbert can be reached at
jgilbert@yumasun.com or 539-6854.