Plans to Kill Mountain Lion Over Killings of Farm Animals Drawing Push Back from Officials, Community

MALIBU, CA -- Sen. Ben Allen Tuesday asked the state to rescind its permit to a ranch owner to shoot a mountain lion suspected of killing a dozen farm animals in the mountains above Malibu over the weekend.

"This is about coexistence," Allen, D-Santa Monica, told NBC4. "Mountain lions are a really important part of the biodiversity puzzle. There are better ways for folks in the mountains to to protect their animals."

Ten alpaca were killed at one ranch near Mulholland Highway at Decker Canyon Road Saturday. At a second, nearby location, one goat and another alpaca were torn apart Sunday.

A state game warden determined the animals were killed by a mountain lion, and a male named P-45 was "strongly suspected" to have been the culprit, said Andrew Houghan of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

A depredation order was issued late Monday afternoon, under a state law that allows a person to shoot a mountain lion if it has been killing livestock or pets.

The order is drawing a lot of pushback, including from defenders who argue that the animal was merely doing what mountain lions do.

"I understand if you lost the animals you’re raising and are upset,” Michael Bell, founder of Encino-based Citizens for a Humane Los Angeles, told the Daily News. But P-45 "should be left alone to do what mountain lions do. If people have livestock, they should go to great extremes to protect their own without killing a natural predator.”

The National Park Service issued a statement saying the only long-term solution to keeping the big cats in the wild around Los Angeles is to erect mountain lion-proof enclosures for pets and livestock.

"Eliminating P-45 does not solve the problem, especially given there are at least four mountain lions in the Santa Monica Mountains that have killed livestock over the past year," Kate Kuykendall, acting deputy superintendent for the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, said. "Nor is P-45’s behavior abnormal or aberrant in any way."

State Sen.-elect Henry Stern, who will represent the region after being sworn in Dec. 5, said he will call on state game wardens to find a solution other than the cat's death.

The National Wildlife Federation, whose Save L.A. Cougars campaign is working with state and federal agencies to save the Santa Monica Mountains cats, has offered to pay for livestock protection for the rancher. The safeguard measures include secured pens, guard dogs and outdoors lights.

"We want a landscape that's safe for wildlife, livestock, pets and people," federation California Director Beth Pratt-Bergstrom told the Daily News.

-- City News Service, photo courtesy of the NPS