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More Mountain Lions Die

A mountain lion killed Saturday by a police officer in Oceanside was one
of 14 being studied in a joint Fish & Game, County of Orange study by 
biologist Paul Beier.  Another lion being studied was killed Sunday 
night by a vehicle on Interstate 15 south of Temecula.

State Fish & Game Department officials and police officers in Oceanside 
chased the first lion Saturday morning through backyards and across 
rooftops for more than three hours before it was killed.  After being 
cornered on a bluff, five officers fired simultaneously, but only 
wounded the animal.  After the lion hid under a porch, one officer fired 
a shot that hit the animal in the jaw.  The cougar then charged the 
officer who fired nine shots from his 9mm pistol which stopped the lion 
six feet from the officer.

The 800-square mile study area includes the Santa Ana Mountain Range of 
Orange, San Diego and Riverside counties.  Beier estimates that as many 
as 40 cougars (including cubs) live in the study area.  Habitat loss and 
fragmentation is decreasing the amount of habitat available to the 
animals.  As development continues there is a strong possibility that 
cougars will be driven extinct in the Santa Ana Mountain Range in about 
20 years.

Few details were available on the death of the second cougar.  Beier's 
study has shown that automobile accidents are the main cause of death in 
the study area.  One lion who was struck by an automobile on the 91 
freeway, suffered for six months before he died in September 1991.


Ed Harrison <harrisone>