Type: report

Article abstract: This mountain lion (Puma concolor; puma, cougar) study is headed by Dr. Winston Vickers of the Wildlife Health Center at UC Davis (WHC). Dr. Fernando Nájera joined the UC Davis Wildlife Health Center as co-Director of Carnivore Projects in March 2023. David Garcelon of the Institute for Wildlife Studies (IWS) is the PI for the northeastern California part of the study, and Dr. Jessica Sanchez of the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance was a key contributor to several study elements in Southern California. Dr.’s Vickers and Nájera prepared this report with contributions from the other project collaborators. Overall activities and research into mountain lions by the UC Davis WHC have been ongoing since the first capture of a mountain lion in the study in March of 2001. Over the course of this long-term study, cougars were captured, sampled, and GPS collared in Orange, Riverside, San Diego, Modoc, Lassen, and Kern Counties, with some of the most recent captures in the Gabilan Range and Pacheco Pass either in or in close proximity to (Santa Clara and San Benito Counties) (Figure 2). Tissue samples have been obtained in the past from deceased animals in San Bernardino County, but no captures have occurred there. Activities of both types are anticipated in additional counties in the future. The study in southern California (Figure 3) has incorporated mountainous areas including the Santa Ana Mountains (SAM) portion of the Peninsular Ranges (west of I-15) and the eastern Peninsular Mountain Ranges (ePR) east of I-15 (Figure 3), and has been conducted under the authorization of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) via a number of Memoranda of Understanding and Scientific Collecting Permits. In 2016, an amendment to our SCP was approved to allow expansion of the study scope and region to study of cougar ecology and interactions with pronghorn antelope (Antilocapra americana) in the northeastern corner of California (Modoc, Lassen, and Siskiyou Counties) (Figure 4). This second part of our study is being conducted in collaboration with, and with the financial support of, Dave Garcelon and the Institute for Wildlife Studies (IWS). The first capture in that study area was in February of 2016. A new 3-year Scientific Collecting Permit was approved in early 2022 that allowed further expansion of the study areas to the Tehachapi Mountain Range north of Los Angeles (Figures 5 and 6) and the Gabilan Range (Figure 7)