A recently published news story reported that last February, around a hundred people attended a meeting in Hulett, Wyoming and told WGFD officials they were worried about a growing mountain lion population and feared for their safety and that of their livestock and pets. Concern was also voiced that lions were reducing the area's deer populations.

According to rancher and state Senator Ogden Driskell (R-Devils Tower), "They wanted the lion population decreased."

The abilities of mountain lions to stay hidden and avoid people helps them to survive, but it also makes cougar research a real challenge! While studying the biology and behavior of lions is of value in and of itself, it can also serve significant conservation goals as we learn about the extent and origins of human-caused lion deaths: when lions are intentionally shot for depredation, road-killed on our highways, or succumb to pesticides and other toxins. Recently, I had an opportunity to tag along with Dr. Winston Vickers and Deanna Dawn, dedicated biologists with U.C Davis' Wildlife Health Center, as they tracked and recaptured one of Southern California's mountain lions.

Cougar biologist Gary Koehler sheds light on the difficulty of applying scientific research about lion behavior to human attitudes and management.