![is a cougar a mountain lion is a cougar a mountain lion](https://i.natgeofe.com/n/3448d6bb-4889-4571-8fe3-196b4aa5d3c7/4265931_2x3.jpg)
This big cat of many names is also found. In 2018 we led a coalition challenging the Altair development, which would have further isolated the already dwindling Santa Ana puma population, and obtained a legal agreement in October 2020 to protect a critical wildlife corridor after a favorable court ruling. This powerful predator roams the Americas, where it is also known as a panther, puma, mountain lion, and catamount. Here in Southern California they are commonly called mountain lions. We also continue to fight individual projects that threaten California mountain lions. Mountain lion, puma, cougar, pantherthis cat is known by more names than just about any other mammalBut no matter what you call it, its still the same cat, Puma concolor, the largest of the small cat species. The ordinance was challenged in court by industry groups, and the Center has joined a coalition of conservation organizations to defend it.
![is a cougar a mountain lion is a cougar a mountain lion](https://imgc.allpostersimages.com/img/print/posters/james-hager-mountain-lion-cougar-felis-concolor-in-snow-in-captivity-near-bozeman-montana_a-L-8743061-4990875.jpg)
Protections are in place while state biologists are conducting a status review for the vote on formal listing in 2021.Īt the local level, with the Center’s support, Ventura County adopted a first-of-its-kind ordinance to protect habitat connectivity and wildlife movement corridors for mountain lions and other species.
![is a cougar a mountain lion is a cougar a mountain lion](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/bajpzUQDiWjx4jJZTprD4L-320-80.jpg)
In response the California Department of Fish and Wildlife recommended in 2020 that listing may be warranted. The Fish and Game Commission voted two months later to accept the department’s recommendation and advance these populations to candidacy. We petitioned the California Fish and Game Commission to list the Southern California and Central Coast mountain lion populations as “threatened” under the California Endangered Species Act. The Center is working to secure state-level protection for California mountain lions. The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), state lawmakers and local officials need to build wildlife crossings and protect large areas of intact habitat so mountain lions have room to thrive. To protect these cats, California needs clear state mandates to improve wildlife connectivity. In fact, some could disappear in just 15 years if inbreeding gets worse. That’s causing dangerous inbreeding and genetic-diversity declines, leaving some mountain lion populations vulnerable to extinction. Barriers prevent young mountain lions from migrating in or out to establish their own home ranges and find mates. Hemmed in by highways and killed by cars, California’s cougars are isolated in small, unsustainable populations. Help save them now.īut today mountain lions in Southern California and along the Central Coast are gravely threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation from freeways and rampant sprawl development. The last administration failed to protect many species on the brink of extinction.