Mountain lions around Sabino & Bear Canyons?

[ceasom]

Hey folks

I'm thinking of hiking the Sabino Canyon/Hutch's Pool/Bear Canyon loop by myself Memorial Day weekend. I know there are signs everywhere about recent increaed mountan lion activity, but how common is it to see one? I live in Tucson and haven't heard of any sightings for a long time. I guess I'm just a little wary of doing this hike by myself.

Thanks

[rally_toad]

Ive never been to that area, but Ive heard its crowded and on memorial day weekend.... I seriously doubt you will be by yourself.

[joebartels]

I'd be more concerned with the heat than a plump cat.

[Jeffshadows]

Chances are, there will be at least five or ten other parties in on that very loop on Memorial weekend, you should be totally fine. That section of trail sees a ton of traffic and you're rarely out of communication back there on *any* weekend for much longer than five or ten minutes (If you're lucky). Plus, all of the noise in the canyon on a weekend like that will drive anything weary of human contact further up into the hills.

Those signs have been there for a couple of years now during cat season; I heard it was because someone (Possibly a snow bird) from back east stumbled upon a cat at a distance as it was running away near the dam and went schitzo on the rangers at the gate afterward...

[joebartels]

Yep, it stemmed from the March 9th closing debacle in 2004

Posted: 03/09/04
Coronado National Forest officials are temporarily closing Sabino Canyon Recreation area to allow professional animal trackers to search for mountain lions that have lost their fear of humans.

"I have decided to instill the closure to aid the Arizona Game and Fish Department in their search for mountain lions that pose a potentially lethal threat to people in the canyon," said Larry Raley, Santa Catalina District Ranger in charge of the popular national forest recreation area northwest of Tucson .

The closed area is bounded by the Forest Service boundary in the southern end of the Santa Catalina Ranger District; Ventana Canyon Trail on the western side; the West Fork and East Forks of Sabino Creek on the northern side and the Mt. Lemmon Highway on the east side.

Since February 2004, professional trackers have discovered the presence of at least three and perhaps four mountain lions in the area that receives more than one million visitors each year. The height of the visitor season is January through April when it is not uncommon for more than 200 people to visit Sabino and Bear Canyons daily.

Visitors are asked to modify their routes to avoid the area but stressed that people be aware of their surroundings as sightings of mountain lions in nearby residential neighborhoods have been reporter. Mountain lion sighting s should be reported immediately to the Arizona Game and Fish Department at 520-628-5376 or to the Forest Service at 520-749-7703.

Posted: 03/12/04
Arizona Game and Fish Department officials say they have no choice but to try to remove mountain lions being routinely sighted in Sabino Canyon. A spokesman for the department says the big cats are a threat to public safety.

“Mountain lions have been in frequent, close contact with the public in Sabino Canyon in the past several months, and have shown little or no fear of humans,” says Tom Whetten. “The department has recently received additional information that heightens our concerns about public safety. These lions pose a risk to canyon visitors.”

Mountain lions, also called cougars, are typically secretive and are seldom seen. But department officials say a spate of recent sightings and incidents in Sabino Canyon require a response.

Mark Zornes, one of the department’s mountain lion experts, says that once cougars cease to show fear of humans and become accustomed to being around people, the probability of an attack on a human being increases. He cites what he calls several “red flags” that mandate lion removal in Sabino Canyon.

“If mountain lions become daylight active, that is one cause for concern,” he says. “When cougars show no fear of people that is red flag number two. If they begin stalking people, that’s a big red flag. The mountain lions in Sabino Canyon are raising all the red flags.”

Zornes says most recent cougar attacks, including two attacks in Orange County, Calif., on Jan. 8, typically occur in outdoor recreation areas where people are hiking, jogging and mountain biking. In the California attacks, a 35-year old mountain biker was killed and a 30-year old woman was mauled by the same lion.

“Predators such as mountain lions have what we call a predatory response — they see something running away and their natural impulse is to catch the fleeing prey item. Mountain lions often lie along trails in heavy cover, which is conducive to their ambush-style of hunting. Joggers, mountain bikers and mountain lions are not a healthy mix,” he says.

Game and Fish Department officials also say that capturing and relocating any mountain lion that might be found in Sabino Canyon is not an option.

“We simply cannot take the chance of relocating and releasing a mountain lion that constitutes a threat to humans. Not when lives are at stake,” Whetten says.

Wildlife-tracking experts had been brought in previously to locate and remove the offending mountain lions. “So far our experts have not been able to trail the cougars because of the exceptionally steep terrain in the canyon or due to the large number of visitors,” Whetten says.

Since February, the professional trackers have discovered the presence of at least three and perhaps four mountain lions in the area, which receives more than one million visitors each year. At the height of the visitor season, January through April, more than 2,000 people a day visit Sabino and Bear canyons.

The last mountain lion attack occurred in Arizona in April 2000 when a 4-year-old girl was seriously injured while camping with her family at Bartlett Lake near Phoenix. The lion crushed the back of the girl’s skull, nicked her carotid artery and inflicted several deep puncture wounds before her father was able to chase the animal away. A short time later, the lion returned to the scene and was killed by a Game and Fish Department officer.

Mountain lions can be found throughout Arizona and are not an endangered species: the statewide population is estimated at 2,500 animals. Mountain lions are top-level predators, killing and eating primarily deer, but also elk, livestock and other domestic animals. Mature males weigh as much as 150 pounds and females 100 pounds.

Biologists say that the removal of a few isolated lions will not cause any long term damage to Arizona’s overall mountain lion population.

AG&FD Posted: The Arizona Game and Fish Department is asking for Sabino Canyon-area homeowners who may be feeding lions or prey animals such as deer, javelina or rabbits to stop this activity.

“Reports have been coming directly to me,” says Mike Senn, who heads the department’s Field Operations Division. ”One report was that someone was deliberately leaving food out for lions, and we routinely get reports at our Tucson field office of people feeding javelina and other wildlife, which may be attracting cougars.”

Intentionally feeding wildlife makes human-wildlife conflict inevitable. It results in animals losing their fear of humans. Feeding predatory species such as lions makes the animal reliant on the food source, humans, which it then begins to associate with food. Ultimately, the animal often begins to view human beings as a food, or prey, item.

Feeding prey animals such as deer, javelina and rabbits can artificially increase the prey density of an area, which then attracts mountain lions and other predators.

Pima County currently has an ordinance making the feeding of bears a misdemeanor, but there is no ordinance that addresses cougars.

“Perhaps if the county had a broader, tougher wildlife-feeding ordinance on the books, we wouldn’t be in this situation,” says Senn, who also notes that the behavior of the Sabino lions is consistent with the behavior of predators that have lost their fear of humans.

Visitors to Sabino Canyon have reported numerous lion sightings since May of 2003. In several instances, the cats stalked canyon visitors. Lion experts note that in almost every case, the lions exhibited “red flag” behavior:

- The lions were daylight active;
- They showed no fear of humans;
- Humans were stalked;
- The mountain lions were habituating a high-use recreation area full of hikers, joggers and mountain bikers.

Department officials say the risk of an attack at Sabino Canyon is high because the lions there have begun to exhibit stalking behaviors. The last mountain lion attack in Arizona occurred at Bartlett Lake near Phoenix in 2000, when a 4-year old girl suffered life-threatening injuries.

“The cat grabbed the child outside the family’s tent and dragged her 15 yards through the brush,” says Senn. “It was a little 4-year old girl versus a 125-pound mountain lion. Sabino Canyon has 2,000 people a day hiking, jogging and mountain biking in an area full of potential ambush spots. Am I willing to see someone else’s child suffer the same injuries—or worse yet, killed? No. Are you?”

Senn notes that collaring the cats, trying to apply what’s called ‘aversive conditioning’ or relocating them are not options.

“Mountain lions are very territorial and one of the leading causes of mountain lion mortality is other mountain lions,” he says. “Moving a lion out of it’s home turf and into the territory of another will likely result in the transplanted animal getting killed or forced to move into poor habitat, including urban areas. It’s also irresponsible and dangerous to move an individual animal that has exhibited brazen behavior into another area.”

Senn says so-called ‘aversive conditioning’ has been tried in Yosemite National Park without success. “It didn’t work,” he says. “And putting a radio collar on a mountain lion that’s exhibiting ‘red flag’ behaviors may do little more than help us find the remains of a victim at this point.”

More information on mountain lions, including statistics and descriptions of attacks in the U.S. and Canada can be found googling "cougarinfo"

Mountain lions can be found throughout Arizona and are not endangered. The statewide population is estimated at 2,500 animals.

AZ Daily Star Posted 2005-12-14: Two animal activists affiliated with Earth First were convicted Tuesday on one felony and two misdemeanor counts related to their March 2004 disruption of a mountain lion hunt in Sabino Canyon.
Rodney Coronado, 39, of Tucson, and Matthew Crozier, 33, of Sedona, could be imprisoned for more than six years if maximum sentences are imposed.
Coronado is a convicted arsonist and well-known spokesman for forceful action on behalf of animal rights and environmental causes.
Crozier joined Coronado in spreading false scents and pulling up a sensor and trap during a hunt for problem lions in the then-closed canyon.
After the verdict, Assistant U.S. Attorney Wallace Klein- dienst said Coronado is "a danger to the community."
"I know he wasn't tried here for being a violent anarchist. This trial wasn't about Rod Coronado being a terrorist, but he is one," Kleindienst said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Beverly Anderson asked U.S. District Court Judge David C. Bury to order Coronado jailed pending his March 8 sentencing, citing his flight after being indicted in the arson.
Bury said he had to rely on the only report before him, which described Coronado as "a model released defendant" following his indictment in this case. He allowed him to remain free.
In addition to his imprisonment for setting fire to a mink researcher's offices at Michigan State University in 1992, Coronado has claimed responsibility for sinking two whaling boats and damaging a processing plant in Iceland in 1986. He recently appeared on "60 Minutes" defending those who use tools such as arson to fight urban sprawl and animal abuse.
After the verdict, Coronado said he is still most saddened that one lion was "imprisoned" and four others killed in the period following his arrest.
"From the get-go, this was always about doing right by the mountain lions," he said.
Coronado was arrested in Sabino Canyon on March 24, 2004, along with Esquire magazine writer-at-large John Rich-ardson, whose confiscated tape recordings of the group's movement provided the basis for the case against Crozier and Coronado.
Richardson, who was not tried with the other two, faces one misdemeanor count of interfering with a forest officer.
Crozier and Coronado were convicted of that misdemeanor, another of depredation of government property, and a felony count of conspiracy to impede or injure an officer of the United States.
Sabino Canyon was closed to public use on March 9, 2004, after wildlife biologists warned that an increasing number of human/mountain lion encounters had made the popular hiking area, visited by 1.3 million a year, dangerous.
The closure order, signed by a deputy Coronado National Forest administrator, was later found to be invalid and charges of trespassing against the three men were dropped.
The Arizona Game and Fish Department, which has authority over wildlife in Arizona, at first planned to hunt and shoot the three or four "problem lions" believed to be in the area.
After a public outcry, and under pressure from Gov. Janet Napolitano, Game and Fish decided to trap the lions and send them to an animal shelter.
Crozier, Coronado and Richardson entered the canyon in the early morning of March 24, 2004.
Their intent, voiced in Richardson's tapes and in media appearances by Coronado played for the jury, was to disrupt the hunters — to use mountain lion urine to create a false trail for the tracking dogs and to locate and pull up snares set by the trapper.
At one point in the tape, Richardson reports that Coronado says the governor is wavering and might call off the hunt completely if the group can buy the lions some time.
After the three were spotted in the canyon by authorities, they fled, but Coronado and Richardson were caught by agents who located them by using a helicopter that was standing by to transport trapped lions.
The helicopter pilot and a U.S. Forest Service agent with him both testified that they saw the men "digging" at a trap, though they gave different accounts of how many of the men were involved.
Though both defense and prosecuting attorneys said the trial was about the crimes and not about lions or First Amendment freedoms, much of the argument was waged on those points.
Coronado's attorney, Antonio Felix, said after the verdict that the jury may have been influenced by "evidence that didn't need to be there" concerning the danger posed by mountain lions.
Felix also said it was unfair to use Richardson's tape recordings because the defense had no chance to examine him because he is a defendant in an upcoming proceeding.
The tape recordings were crucial to the prosecution. Prosecutor Kleindienst, in his closing argument, told the jury that "there is a smoking gun in this case and it's John Richardson's tapes."
Gerry Perry, regional supervisor for Arizona Game and Fish, said it "looks like justice was served. We tried to do the right thing for the lions, also to do what's right for people. If we make the wrong decision and somebody gets hurt, we have to live with those decisions and I don't ever want to go through that again."
Ben Pachano, an organizer with Chuk:shon Earth First, said, "I don't think Rod and Matt were guilty of what they were charged with. That said, we never denied that Earth First wanted to sabotage that mountain lion hunt. We certainly don't regret any of that."

[nonot]

Who exactly is leaving out javalina and deer for the mountain lions to eat?

I have a few spare deer in my bedroom....

[Jeffshadows]

Good grief; I was overseas when all that madness went down, thanks for the catch-up, Joe! I saw there was an article in the Star today about Lions possibly attacking poor defenseless foothills dwellers and\or their (No doubt "posh") pets. Whatever shall we do?! plz:

[RedRoxx44]

Beautiful picture in the Sun paper here of a mountain lion that rested on a person's patio in the foothills. Pretty close up---- and the article to match.

[ceasom]

Thanks to everyone who replied, and thanks Joe for the articles. We moved from England to Tucson in Janof 2004 so had only been here a few weeks when the whole lion-hunting thing went down. I think gievn that it'll be Memorial Day weekend, I'll be safe!

Thanks again and happy hiking!

Col

[Jeffshadows]

I bet the weather was a shock, initially!

[ceasom]

My wife is from Tucson so we'd spent some time over here before we moved, but we normally came over for Thanksgiving when it's not so hot. The first summer here was a little tough - now I love it

[Jeffshadows]

Awesome! I still remember walking out of the RAF terminal at Gatwick in May a few years back; it was rainy, foggy, cold, and I had three days to kill in that weather before my connecting flight!!

[ceasom]

Oh yeah, the good old British summers filled with rain.....! I'm orginally from Nottingham (150 miles north of London) and my folks still live there. They had snow only 2 weeks ago. Can't say that I miss those freezing lead grey skies that last for months on end! Give me southern AZ any day