The rancher who obtained a permit to kill a mountain lion believed to have slaughtered some of her alpaca in the Santa Monica Mountains said Thursday she would not have the trigger pulled.

“The point was never to kill the animal,” Victoria Vaughn-Perling said during a news conference at her Malibu hills ranch home amid a backdrop of more than a dozen alpaca spared by the big cat, believed to be P-45. Instead, she said, she got the permit to raise awareness and “try to get it relocated.”

“I’m not looking for revenge for my alpaca,” she added.

Vaughn-Perling, who uses the fur of the alpaca to make scarves, lost 10 of the animals on her property to a mountain lion on Saturday — the fourth such attack on the animals in the last year, she said.

The plight of the mountain lion has drawn national attention ever since the rancher obtained a state permit earlier this week to kill the animal suspected of tearing apart 10 alpaca on her property. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife issued a temporary depredation order allowing the property owner to shoot whatever big cat had been killing her animals if it came near the site again.

• RELATED STORY: Rancher with permit to kill P-45 now wants to trap, relocate mountain lion

The roughly 4-year-old male lion named P-45 by National Park Service biologists is strongly suspected of being the culprit. The park service confirmed the cat, which wears a radio transmitter, had been in the area of the attack.

State officials are exploring what, if anything, to do with the offending mountain lion.

“Captivity for a wild animal is not a good option,” said Jordan Traverso, spokeswoman for Fish and Wildlife. “Death is not a good option. Relocation is not a good option. So we’re trying to find something that may be a better option. It’s a very sticky situation to be in.”

While nothing has been taken completely off the table, relocation to another habitat is probably “the least likely to happen” because it would pose risks to the relocated mountain lion and others of its kind, officials said.

The rancher said through an attorney that she would work with state game wardens to find a more permanent solution to protecting livestock while safeguarding mountain lions. She credited Fish and Wildlife and the office of Los Angeles County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl for support in helping her better protect her animals.

When asked how she felt about Saturday’s alpaca slaughter, the soft-spoken Vaughn-Perling erupted into tears.

“I obviously wish I had done more” to protect them, she said, noting that she has raised many of the animals.

Kuehl’s office is helping her get permanent chain-link enclosures installed on her property, Vaughn-Perling said. She is also considering getting a particular breed of dog that protects livestock from mountain lions.

But while Vaughn-Perling is taking action to protect her livestock, she worries that her neighbors’ animals are still at risk.

“This lion considers this area to be a food court – and we’re closing this McDonald’s today,” said her attorney Reid Breitman of Lancaster-based Kuzyk Law. “But the other restaurants have to be closed, too, to this mountain lion.”

Kuehl said in a statement that she looks forward to helping other property owners in the area “in utilizing the most effective enclosures to protect both their livestock and our precious wildlife.”

Mountain lions are not endangered or threatened in California, according to Fish and Wildlife. But an estimated 10 to 15 cougars in the Santa Monica Mountains are hemmed in by local freeways and face extinction because of inbreeding, federal biologists say.

A state wildlife commission approved a $7.1 million land purchase last month to provide habitat for the big cats. Cougar advocates also hope to raise $56 million for a wildlife crossing bridge over the 101 Freeway to expand breeding options for the trapped cats.

It’s unclear how P-45 ended up in the area. But biologists believe he could introduce new DNA into the mountain lion population.

• RELATED STORY: Environmentalists demand mountain lion P-45 ‘be left alone’ not killed

Vaughn-Perling had initially said she would proceed with killing the lion if it was not captured and relocated elsewhere. The Wildlife Waystation in the Angeles National Forest north of Lake View Terrace had agreed to take in P-45 as a last resort.

Meanwhile, wildlife groups and National Park officials said it wasn’t necessary to kill the offending mountain lion. Hundreds of residents attended a public meeting Wednesday, with many shouting support for the lion.

National Park Service biologists and environmental groups said the cat was just being a mountain lion – and that if P-45 were shot, another would step in to take its place.

“The main point is people really have to protect their animals,” Jeff Sikich, biologist with the National Park Service at the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, said Thursday. “The best way to protect your livestock is with full enclosures and bringing them in at night.”