Suburban Sprawl Squeezes California's Cougars

In contrast to Colorado's wandering cougars, those sighted in California around Los Angeles, Sacramento, and San Diego appear to be established residents. The increased frequency of cougar sightings may be due to creeping urban sprawl that brings people into established mountain lion habitat in unprecedented numbers. The state also banned cougar hunting in 1972, allowing the population to increase. With no threat from hunting, the cats no longer seem to fear people. They regularly turn up in backyards to prey on pets or other animals.

Suburban Orange County, southeast of Los Angeles, is fairly typical. There, residential developments have crept out from Mission Viejo, San Juan Capistrano, and other towns into the foothills of the Santa Ana Mountains. The canyons, forests, and chaparral (dense growth of thorny shrubs or small trees) of the foothills are home to deer and elk as well as the cougars that prey on them. A study found that this habitat supports over half the lions in the region even though the foothills are included in only about a third of the animals' home ranges.