California Rambling: Mountain lions

A dead deer is not unusual in El Dorado County, but when a fresh deer carcass was found half eaten in our El Dorado Hills neighborhood one morning a couple of weeks ago, then dragged away by some animal to be finished an hour later, the first thing that came to mind was “mountain lion.”

Our homeowners association put out an e-mail alert that a probable lion was in the neighborhood, advising neighbors to be watchful and not leave small children or pets unattended in backyards (particularly in morning or evening). Then one neighbor suggested a surprising idea… that one of our neighbors had attracted the lion into our community by feeding deer.

It had always seemed a bit peculiar that so many deer grazed there, even though our neighborhood sits adjacent to Folsom Lake State Recreation Area. After all, deer often prefer a certain meadow, and with our proximity to the state park, turkeys and deer are often seen in our neighborhood. However, the deer seemed more numerous and larger than usual this winter.

Not surprisingly, the abundance of herbivores attracted carnivores. It’s how the natural order occurs, but in suburban communities like El Dorado Hills people tend to forget that they live in a natural world with natural consequences. The person feeding deer in our neighborhood either thinks he’s helping the deer by feeding them or just enjoys seeing deer graze upon the large lawn outside his window.

Julia DiSieno of the Animal Rescue Team in Solvang, one of 150 rescue organizations permitted by the California Department of Fish and Game, explained that feeding wild animals is one of the most destructive things people can do to wild animals. People who feed skunks (I could hardly believe it either), train them to not fear people. This imprints the skunks to see people as a source of food.

“Then, when a fed skunk approaches a person who is unaware the skunk has been so conditioned, the person concludes the skunk is rabid.”

Feeding a wild animal changes it into being neither fully wild nor fully domesticated. “A no-win situation,” Ms. DiSieno said. Rather than encourage wild animals to approach us, she cautions, we should instead “do everything and anything to deter them,” short of harming them.

“People are the No. 1 reason for the demise of all wildlife,” she said. “It’s vehicles, poisoning and feeding them that kills them.” Feeding deer artificially increases the size of herds, attracting disease and parasites that can harm people and their pets. More deer left to hang around neighborhood streets, means more accidents that end up fatal for deer and end up costing people a lot, too.

In a mountain lion’s case, a supply of well-fed deer in a residential neighborhood is a death sentence, and not just for the deer. Tim Dunbar, executive director of the Mountain Lion Foundation which seeks to protect the big cats across California explained that when adult mountain lions become a threat to populated areas, they are hardly ever relocated or placed in sanctuaries. They’re euthanized instead.

That’s because adult lions are territorial, he explained, and when relocated, either the relocated cat or the lion that lives in the relocation area is likely to die. Further, adult wild lions don’t do well in captivity, so wildlife biologists find it more humane to euthanize them than to cage them. Therefore, it’s rare for an adult mountain lion to be relocated or placed in a sanctuary. Only kittens get rescued, because they have the greatest capacity to adapt to captivity.

However, occasionally when a lioness must be euthanized for hunting in a residential area, sometimes not even her kittens can be saved. The Folsom Zoo is a mountain lion sanctuary, but it can accommodate only one or two lion kittens a year, and then only if space is available. For the foreseeable future, the zoo’s lion den is at capacity. So, any kittens rescued must now be sent to a sanctuary that has space. Occasionally, a litter has to be split and sent far away. Ms. Sieno said lion siblings bond closely and, when they are separated, the kitten’s meowing is heart wrenching.

People who feed wild deer never see the consequences of their supposed acts of kindness. What they’re doing is neither helpful nor compassionate. Instead, feeding deer is akin to an act of animal cruelty and it is treated as such by California law. Title 14, Regulation 251.3 of the California Code of Regulations states that no person shall knowingly feed big game animals (deer, lions, bear, elk, bighorn sheep) and that anyone failing to heed (within seven days) a notice to stop from doing so is subject to stiff fines. Harry Morse, a spokesman for the California Department of Fish and Game said such fines can amount to several hundreds of dollars, though once faced with them most people cease feeding wild game and comply with the law.

So, if you care about wildlife and want to help and get close to them, what’s the best way to do so? Folsom Zoo supervisor Jill Lute recommends beginning by “letting wildlife be wild.” The only way an animal is truly wild is when we don’t interfere with its wildness. They need to be left alone to survive on their own. By feeding wild game, we destroy its wildness, turning the animals into beggars at best and victims at worst.

One of the best ways to help wildlife is to contribute to organizations that rescue them, such as the Folsom Zoo Foundation, Mountain Lion Foundation and Animal Rescue Team. And if you want to be close to wildlife, sanctuaries like the Folsom Zoo welcome the support and volunteer involvement of people who care about California’s wild animals and want to be near to them.

The Folsom Zoo is home to many species of California native animals, including deer, raccoons, bobcats, skunks, coyotes, black bear, foxes and four mountain lions (two males and two females), as well as several exotic species (tigers, monkeys, reptiles and insects). The Folsom Zoo is located at Lions Park near the Folsom City Hall and is open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in winter ($5/adult, $4/child, weekends; $4 adult/$3 child, midweek; under 2 is free).

More about mountain lions and California wildlife can be found at mountainlion.org, animalrescueteam.net, folsomzoo.org and dfg.ca.gov.

John Poimiroo of El Dorado Hills is a travel writer who specializes in California destinations.