Mountain Lion on CU Campus

[Darth Snow]

I know there are deer there, thats why there are mountain lions there. Mountain lions still kill more deer than they need to. And they kill a lof just for consumption.

This is a key part of the article, take note of short term and long term benifits.

The mountain lion population is increasing over most of its current range. This is due to two factors:

1. Food availability.

2. Lack of predator control. This population increase has a short-term benefit, but could create long-term problems.

The short-term benefit is that with more lions around, perhaps more people will have the pleasure of seeing them. The long-term problems are:

1. Decline in wild game populations due to uncontrolled predation.

2. Economic hardship - loss of hunting revenue, increase of livestock and pet losses.

3. Spread of disease by predators.

4. Attacks on humans.

Decline of wild game populations: In Presidio County, Texas, near the Rio Grande River, deer were found everywhere ten years ago. In those ten years, the lion population has increased dramatically. Today, there are areas where no deer can be found that were plentiful just a few years ago. Lion predation is a major factor in the deer decline.

[video=youtube;vX07j9SDFcc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vX07j9SDFcc[/video]