Study finds mountain lions are feasting on house pets

The Department of Fish and Wildlife warns pet owners to keep their cats inside and their dogs leashed when outside if living in areas near open space or when visiting park lands. The Department of Fish and Wildlife warns pet owners to keep their cats inside and their dogs leashed when outside if living in areas near open space or when visiting park lands. Photo: Steven Bobzien, East Bay Regional Park District Photo: Steven Bobzien, East Bay Regional Park District Image 1 of / 19 Caption Close Study finds mountain lions are feasting on house pets 1 / 19 Back to Gallery

A pet owner’s nightmare, their dog or cat being eaten by a mountain lion, appears to happen with some frequency, according to a new report from the Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The report detailed that 107 mountain lions were killed last year legally under provisions of special depredation permits. Of those 107 lions, the stomach contents of 83 were analyzed, and 52 percent were found to have eaten cats, dogs or other domestic animals, the report said.

Only 5 percent had eaten deer, which are supposed to be their favorite prey, but are harder to catch than house cats. Of the rest of the lions detailed in the report, 16 percent were not studied, 9 percent had empty stomachs, and 18 percent had contents that were too digested to be identified.

If pets also accounted for a good share of that 18 percent, that would mean more than 60 percent of the lions in the study ate cats, dogs and other domestic animals. The report had not been released to the public, but the DFW provided it quickly when requested.

The DFW also confirmed the numbers and warned pet owners to keep their cats inside and their dogs leashed when outside if living in areas near open space or when visiting park lands.

“As a pet owner you have a responsibility for the safety of that animal, especially if you live in open space or wild animal habitat,” said the DFW’s Andrew Hughan. “When out walking, keep it on a leash or keep a very close eye, look around, above and behind you for wild animals.”

Photo: Tami Sutton A motion-activated wildlife camera captures a picture of four...

Though the report verified the high incidence of lions eating pets, Hughan said the DFW has confirmed that coyotes and other predators attack and eat pets at high levels, too.

“Many coyote attacks on animals and people happen when the coyote sneaks up from behind,” Hughan said. “Also, when you let your pet out late at night, go into the yard with the pet. Don’t just open the door and let it run out. A coyote can jump over an 8-foot fence, grab a small dog or cat and be gone before you even know it’s there.”

There are verified reports of lions making off with cats from the backyards of suburban towns that are bordered by open space, the DFW has previously reported.

The way this story came about was an accident. At a lunch this past week in Yountville, Eric Sklar of St. Helena, a new member of the Fish and Game Commission, and I were talking about strategies to increase trout populations in the lakes and streams of California. I mentioned a plan I am developing in which five times as many trout could be stocked with no increase in budget by using net pens in lakes to grow out fingerlings; a second net would keep out the predators, such as river otters. When Sklar heard the word “predators,” his face lit up.

“I just heard about a report where 107 lions were killed last year with depredation permits,” Sklar said. “They checked the contents of their stomachs and found that more than half had been eating cats and dogs.”

Within the hour, I was talking to Hughan, who confirmed the study. He said the report covered incidents statewide, including in the Bay Area, and then added that the problem is so severe that DFW is giving a series of public meetings about coyote and predator awareness. In the Bay Area, they are scheduled at 7 p.m. on Feb. 23 (a Tuesday) and at 10 a.m. on March 5 (a Saturday) in Brisbane. For more information, go to: https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/keep-me-wild.

Outdoors Triple Crowns

A lynx in California? The response was high to Monday’s column about outdoor Triple Crowns. It started when a San Francisco firefighter, Miles Degraffenreid, was hiking near Castle Rocks on the flank of Mount Diablo and reported seeing a bobcat, lynx and mountain lion, all in one day. That drew a big response, in particular about the lynx sighting, because California does not have what are Lynx canadensis, as in Canada. What many call California lynx are a subspecies of bobcat. They do have a different looking tail and many of us count them as unique, but it is technically not a lynx.

Other Triple Crowns: For hikers and wildlife watchers, another Triple Crown would be mountain lion, bobcat and fox, or bald eagle, golden eagle and peregrine falcon.

Golden Gate fishing: The Triple Crown is striped bass, halibut and salmon — and the Grand Slam of fishing is also catching a sturgeon. Field scout Tom Ryugo reported he caught the Triple Crown in 1996, on the Huck Finn with Capt. Art Roby. With the ban on barbed hooks for salmon, that feat now would be near impossible on a party boat. “The thing is that you fish for stripers and halibut using live anchovies on a barbed hook,” he noted. “Then if you catch a salmon on a barbed hook, you have to release it.”

Sightings

Local sighting: Bill Quinn was taking a stroll at Spring Lake near Santa Rosa when a flock of Canada geese in the lagoon started honking and squawking. “We looked up to see this guy circling and then landing in a nearby tree,” Quinn noted. “My first local sighting of a bald eagle after 35 years in town!”

Bolder and bolder: While coyote sightings are common, coyotes are getting bolder and bolder in Yosemite Valley, where Fred Hebert saw a coyote, healthy and in full bushy winter coat, stroll across the snow and right up to his car.

Speaking of bold: A bobcat bounded right through the parking lot at the Target in San Rafael, first reported by Chris Smith. He theorized it was on its way to the nearby marsh along San Pablo Bay.

Tom Stienstra is The San Francisco Chronicle’s outdoors writer. E-mail: tstienstra@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @StienstraTom