California has extended permanent state-level protections to several mountain lion populations, but the federal Fish and Wildlife Service has no plans to follow in its tracks.
Capping a yearslong effort by environmentalists, the California Fish and Game Commission on Thursday approved listing the Southern California and Central Coast mountain lion populations as threatened under the state’s Endangered Species Act. The unanimous decision marked a long-awaited win for the Center for Biological Diversity and the Mountain Lion Foundation, which joined in filing the 2019 listing petition that got the ball rolling.
“This is a major milestone for a California icon,” said Tiffany Yap, urban wildlands science director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Mountain lions are a marvel, but too many across the Golden State are struggling in the diminished and fractured wild places where they live.”
Yap added that the commission’s action shows that “this state isn’t willing to stand back and watch our precious wildlife vanish forever.”
