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Geniella, M.
Education only defense against mountain lion encounters
Newspaper
State fish and game commissioners said Thursday there's little they can do to prevent sometimes fatal confrontations between marauding mountain lions and increasingly edgy residents who live on the fringe of the secretive creature's natural habitat. Commissioners, who meet monthly around the state, had asked for a special mountain lion report from the state Department of Fish and Game because of growing public concerns after the fatal attacks last year on two women in separate public recreation areas. Altogether 10 lions were killed in 1994 after encounters with people, including a rabid lion who attacked some Sebastopol campers in Mendocino County in August, North Coast counties of Mendocino, Humboldt and Lake are among nine counties statewide considered "hot spots" for mountain lions. Even though the estimated 5,000 to 6,000 mountain lions in California don't qualify for listing under state or federal endangered species provisions, they are "specially protected" mammals under the proposition approved by a 51-49 percent margin.
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