Cougars in the Santa Monica Mountains and elsewhere have moved a step closer to becoming listed as a threatened species in California.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife recommended hundreds of mountain lions in Southern California and along the Central Coast be listed under the state’s Endangered Species Act. Next, the Fish and Game Commission is expected to consider the move, which likely will happen next year, officials said.
Sofia Prado-Irwin, a staff scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity, praised the recommendation. She called it “wonderful news” for the struggling puma populations, which she said face threats from an increasingly fragmented habitat to rodenticide poisoning…