After months of increasingly close calls with mountain lions, Lassen County this week declared the big cats an “imminent threat to public safety.”
The influx of mountain lion sightings began last summer, Lassen County Sheriff John McGarva said in a Friday statement. Most of the reports came from the rural northern county’s Gold Run area, the sheriff said, which is mostly occupied by families on sprawling plots of land.
One resident said he was having more difficulty in scaring off the mountain lions that had “traditionally been hazed away,” McGarva said, reporting that the big cat had at one point crept under his deck.
“The lions have become more and more comfortable around his home and the homes of others in the area,” McGarva said. “The belief is that the same pride of lions are affecting all residents based on the reports seen.”
In October, another resident said a lion came within 15 feet of him while he was walking his two dogs. And this week, a family sent the sheriff’s office footage of up to five mountain lions crossing their property, a few feet from the entrance of their home.
This report prompted a visit from the sheriff, who found “tracks and trails” circling the residence and a nearby creek. There was nothing obviously attracting them, McGarva said, and they appeared to ignore multiple lights and cameras set up as deterrents.
In a canvass of the area, most neighbors said they had seen mountain lions on their security cameras, McGarva said. While they all acknowledged that “that living in a rural area would result in contacts with predators, these lions are becoming a threat,” he added. McGarva issued a similar warning over gray wolves last spring.
One person recalled removing an orchard for fear of attracting predators, while another said they had recently put up fencing as a deterrent. The mountain lions appeared impervious to traditional deterrents like loud noises and lights, McGarva said.
“The fact that five different lions are now occupying the area has increasing concerns about the potential for human-wildlife conflict,” McGarva said. “There is evidence the lions are remaining in the area over an extended period of time based on sightings and kills over the winter and spring months.”
Mountain lion attacks on humans remain rare in California. The state’s fish and wildlife department has confirmed fewer than 30 since 1890, six of which were fatal.
The most recent fatality was two years ago in El Dorado County, which has experienced similar problems with mountain lions who seem less afraid of humans than in years past.
Environmentalists suggest that the uptick in sightings is a result of humans encroaching on mountain lions’ traditional territory.
Some El Dorado County residents have urged the state to legalize a practice known as “tree-and-free,” hazing lions by permitting trained dogs and their handlers to chase them up trees. State legislators are also considering a bill that would lift the current penalties for killing endangered animals – such as gray wolves – in self-defense.
A young mountain lion, christened 157M, wandered as far astray as San Francisco this year, causing a stir when he entered into the city’s Pacific Heights neighborhood. The big cat was eventually captured and released in the Santa Cruz mountains.
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This article originally published at Northern California county declares mountain lions ‘imminent threat’.