Help Save America’s Lion Why protect the mountain lion? Together, we can create create effective barriers between people and wildlife that serve both. The best way to help MOUNTAIN LION The value of wildlife is often misunderstood. save America’s lions is to protect people, pets, and Mountain lions fill an irreplaceable and livestock and thus reduce the irrational fear of lions. FOUNDATION complex role on the American landscape. Individuals and neighborhoods can show commitment and They keep deer and elk herds on the move so responsibility. While some people may be tolerant of that they do not overgraze in any particular nearby wildlife, often their neighbors are not. It takes just area. This results in less erosion along one complaint to kill a lion. riverbanks and increases habitat for other Mountain lions need human friends to show that we can species. Ecosystems with lions are healthier, coexist. Please, speak with your local lawmakers and more sustainable, and contain rich resources, comment on wildlife agency plans. Insist on real benefiting people and wildlife alike. conservation for the lions in your state. You have an Although many Americans believe that the opportunity to undo more than a century’s worth of number of mountain lions in the U.S. is environmental damage and restore natural ecosystems. increasing, this is not true. Habitat destruction and trophy hunting kill more lions today than Please take this opportunity to learn about lions and visit at any other time in our nation’s history. www.mountainlion.org for even more information. Then pass on the word to friends, family and neighbors. Trophy hunters will tell you that hunting is a Remember that Mou are the voice of the mountain lion! necessary “management” tool. That’s a lie told by people who just enjoy senseless killing. The truth is that mountain lions are few in Join Us number and reproduce slowly. Their Founded in 1986, the Mountain Lion populations are self-regulating. Foundation is a national nonprofit organization protecting mountain lions and California has more their habitat. Your membership makes you people and more part of a nationwide network of individuals mountain lions than who commit dollars and energy to the cause of protecting any other state, and our nation’s most significant remaining predator. has not had a lion hunting season since With the help of tens of thousands of concerned individuals, 1972. Yet attacks on MLF has worked to prevent the killing of mountain lions, people, pets, and curb poaching, increase funding for wildlife habitat, reform livestock are still rare, game commissions and agencies, and create a new and there are plenty generation of grassroots wildlife activists. of deer to go around. The lion is the guardian of American wilderness. Though California’s lions are rarely seen, mountain lions help to maintain the wild spaces able to teach their you know and love. Join MLF today in this fight to preserve kittens how to avoid our nation’s wild heritage by Saving America’s Lion. people. As a result, aving conflicts with lions in FOLLOWF us S California are less ono Twitter frequent than in @@MtnLionFdn states where lions are LIKE us on Facebook America’s Lion hunted for sport. Mountain Lion Foundation

There is simply no MOUNTAIN LION FOUNDATION Become a member at: good reason to hunt PO Box 1896, Sacramento, CA 95812 [email protected] mountain lions! For information call us: 916-442-2666 www.mountainlion.org Puma Although its scientific name is Safety concolor , the American lion is known Mountain lions once by more names than any other animal occupied the entire If you live, work, or play in lion country, be alert. Avoid in the world. You might know it as a United States from walking alone between dusk and dawn when lions are mountain lion, cougar, panther, puma, coast to coast, but now most active. Keep your children and pets close to you. Never approach or corner a lion (or any wild animal). painter or catamount. are primarily found in the West, with a small If you do see a mountain lion, no matter how thrilled you are to be one of the very few who Appearance population in Florida. gets such an opportunity, stay well back, and The adult American lion is tan in color, with black take the encounter seriously. tipped ears and tail. It weighs 80 to 180 pounds, stands two to three feet high at the shoulders, and Make yourself appear as can reach eight feet in length from the nose to the large as possible. tip of the tail. The lion’s tail measures one-third of the cat’s entire length. Make noise. Mountain lion kittens (or cubs) are born with camouflaging spots that fade in maturity. Lions Maintain eye contact. may bear up to four kittens at a time. Kittens stay with their mother for up to two years and then disperse to establish their own territories. Slowly create distance.

Abilities Protect yourself. Mountain lions can: bound up to 40 feet running Home Range Human encounters with mountain lions are leap 15 feet up a tree extremely rare and the risk of injury or death from an climb over a 12 foot fence Lions prefer areas with dense undergrowth and cover, attack is very small. You are more likely to drown in walk many miles at 10 mph and will leave an area if they perceive a threat. Found in your bathtub, be killed by a pet dog, or be hit by reach speeds of 50 mph in a sprint deserts to humid coast forests, arid hillsides, scrub and lightning than to be attacked by a mountain lion. Lions sense movement more accurately than they see detail. oak woodlands, lions can live from sea level to snow- If lions had any natural urge to hunt people there Their wide angle and night vision are much greater than our covered mountain peaks. would be attacks every single day. Instead, they own. A lion's hearing is acutely sensitive, discerning sounds Lions are solitary unless mating or parenting, and avoid us or are simply indifferent. far beyond human range. maintain vast territories that average 100 square miles in Changing our animal husbandry practices can size. They are constantly on the move and will fight other reduce risks. Most pets and livestock do not have Identifying Lions have an "M" shaped pad lions, even to the death, to protect their territory. A the skills to protect themselves and can attract lions Lion with three lobes on the heel, and mother with kittens will move to a new den site within her and other wild predators. Depredation is still a fairly without claw marks. At a walk, Tracks territory every few weeks to protect her kittens. rare occurrence, and the dangers can easily be a lion's hind foot steps in his fore avoided by people taking the steps to protect their tracktrack,, creating overlap. Hunting domestic animals in lion country.

MOUNTAIN LION DOG Mountain lions typically hunt alone from dusk to dawn, Government policies can also increase conflicts. taking their prey (primarily deer) by surprise. On average, States that allow mountain lion hunting put their a lion will kill a deer every ten to fourteen days. Lions also citizens at risk because killing off large adult lions dine on raccoons, rodents, elk, feral hogs, and even leaves behind juvenile lions that are far more likely to porcupines. They may drag the meal to another area and cause trouble. The continuing fragmentation and cover it with dry leaves, grass or pine needles to protect the destruction of habitat and wildlife corridors also FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ALL THESE TOPICS VISIT WWW.MOUNTAINLION.ORG

Right Front Left Hind STRIDE 20-28 INCHES food from other animals and to reduce spoilage. increases the chances for encounters with people.