February 14, 2020
For Immediate Release
THIRTY-EIGHT GROUPS SEND LETTER TO GOVERNOR NEWSOM URGING A MORATORIUM ON LETHAL DEPREDATION PERMITS FOR MOUNTAIN LIONS
Request for moratorium on all mountain lion lethal depredation permits and lethal anticoagulant rodenticides in Southern & Central Coast California mountain ranges
Dear Governor Newsom:
We write today to urge you to put an immediate moratorium on all lethal depredation permits for mountain lions, as well as six fatal rodenticides in the Southern California and Central Coast mountain ranges. Mountain lions in these regions are threatened with extinction. The recent death of the mountain lion known as P-56 in the Santa Monica mountains at the hands of a rancher who received a lethal depredation permit from your administration’s Department of Fish and Wildlife is a horrifying example of how we are prioritizing privately owned livestock over the wildlife that all Californians cherish, as echoed by the Los Angeles City Council Resolution . There is no justification for killing P-56, who was part of an 18-year national park study and whose death now leaves only one breeding male lion in that range .
Lions in these areas are imperiled partly due to loss of habitat, and genetic isolation as a result of freeways and other barriers preventing connectivity. While we certainly support the necessary efforts at the local and state levels to solve those problems, action can be taken to relieve further pressure on these mountain lion populations.
We request your office take immediate action to require the Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) to place a moratorium on anticoagulant rodenticides: brodifacoum, bromadiolone, difethialone, difenacoum, chlorophacinone and diphacinone by suspending those products. DPR has already recognized that these rodenticides are harming mountain lions and have “population-level impacts among non-target wildlife.”
Lastly, we understand that the Department is currently reviewing a petition to list mountain lions in the Southern California and Central Coast regions on the California Endangered Species Act (CESA), which will undergo an initial vote at the April 15th-16th Fish and Game Commission meeting in Sacramento. We fully support listing mountain lions under CESA and believe such listing is imperative to their survival and hope that you will formally support such listing. Yet, time is not on the side of mountain lions and not even one more death at the hands of a depredation permit or anticoagulant poisoning is acceptable.
We are grateful for your history of protecting California’s wildlife. We hope you agree the above steps are necessary and will take immediate action. California’s mountain lions are depending on you, and extinction is forever. Thank you for your time and consideration.
Social Compassion in Legislation
