People have been spotting and even running into mountain lions more often at some Orange County parks and officials hope a contract with UC Davis’ Karen C. Drayer Wildlife Health Center will help with better understanding the animals’ behavior patterns.
The center has been researching mountain lions in Southern California, including in Orange County, for several years, which has provided a basic understanding of their behavior, however there is little data that details mountain lion behavior when there may be some interaction with people, officials said. Working with local park rangers would provide more knowledge of the local lion population, which are the largest native carnivore in Southern California.
The presence of mountain lions in public parks and more people spending time in the parks has increased over the last 20 years, leading to more interactions between the public and wildlife, officials said. At times, parks have closed for days or even weeks after a sighting.
“The basic idea is to provide good scientific information in this realm of behavior patterns to assist (OC Parks) if they need assistance,” Winston Vickers, director of the California Mountain Lion Project at UC Davis’ Wildlife Health Center, said. “It might entail tracking or placing of cameras, basically to better inform them as to the presence or lack of presence of a mountain lion in a particular area.”
The three-year contract was approved by the OC Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, July 18, at a cost of $120,000 per year.
Under the contract, the Wildlife Health Center will provide services such as on-call consultation regarding mountain lion activity and more training for OC Parks staff and develop a data set of mountain lion detections. This would allow OC Parks officials to make more informed decisions when it comes to the wildlife.
When there is a possible mountain lion sighting, park rangers already “work closely with the reporting party to obtain as much…
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