I'm very excited to share this news with our most loyal members and supporters. This morning the Mountain Lion Foundation and the Center for Biological Diversity
formally petitioned the California Fish and Game Commission to protect Southern and Central Coast mountain lions under the California Endangered Species Act.

You can read the story in this morning's Los Angeles Times.  
 
Over the past year, the Mountain Lion Foundation has heard from members across Southern California that their worries for the survival of local mountain lions are mounting. Your concerns were echoed in scientific research published in December 2018 and in March 2019, which showed the genetic isolation of Southern California's cougar populations and predicted that if inbreeding depression occurs, the lions in the Santa Ana Mountains could go extinct within 12 years, and those in the Santa Monica Mountains within 15 years.  
 
We know that other populations are hurting too, and we have been working intensely within the community of Julian to limit the number of lions killed in San Diego county. 
 
So now we are taking the next essential step to protect mountain lions throughout Southern California and up the Central Coast. (See the map.)

Tiffany Yap, a biologist at the Center for Biological Diversity and primary author of the petition, put it this way. "Our mountain lions are dying horrible deaths from car collisions and rat poison, and their populations are at risk from inbreeding too. Without a clear legal mandate to protect mountain lions from the threats that are killing them and hemming them in on all sides, these iconic wild cats will soon be gone from Southern California."
 
We are proud to partner with the Center as co-petitioners, and are glad to have their help as we embark on a long journey (up to two years!) to list the lion as threatened or endangered. We'll need your help too, writing letters, signing petitions, and continuing your financial support of the Foundation so that we can further this work.
 
But today is a day to celebrate a beginning. Under the California Endangered Species Act, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife has three months to make an initial recommendation to the Fish and Game Commission, which will then take a first vote on the petition at a public hearing later this year.
 
Please take a look at the petition, which is an incredible summary of the threats facing Southern California mountain lions. And return to visit our landing page for the CESA campaign, which will be updated as we move through the listing process.
 
My deep thanks to you, for making this important work possible.  
   For the lions,
   Lynn Cullens
   Executive Director 

You are an integral part of the work and accomplishments of the Mountain Lion Foundation.  We can't continue our important work without your support! 
Your generosity, action, and caring give every mountain lion a voice. 
 
 




ABOUT THE MOUNTAIN LION FOUNDATION

The Mountain Lion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization protecting mountain lions and their habitat, and celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2016.  The Foundation focuses exclusively on conservation of mountain lions in the United States, with an emphasis on reducing human causes of mortality including trophy hunting, habitat loss, poisoning, trapping, road kill, poaching and depredation kills of more than 4000 mountain lions every year. We emphasize citizen advocacy in the effort to increase people's awareness and understanding of these magnificent and essential animals . 




Be a voice for mountain lions!