Mountain lion found dead in Yucca Valley

YUCCA VALLEY — A mountain lion spotted taking a refuge at a Yucca Valley home died last week due to injuries consistent with being struck by a car.

The 5-year-old female mountain lion was spotted June 24 by homeowners as she lay in the shade of their residence in Yucca Valley.

“It was found lying peacefully in the shade against the residence,” said Geary Hund, former executive director of the Mojave Desert Land Trust. “She was part of the same imperiled group of mountain lions as her more famous counterpart, P-22, who lived for 10 years in Griffith Park in Los Angeles.”

Wildlife animal rescuers from the Magic Jungle Wildlife Preserve in Lucerne Valley responded and networked with the California Department of Fish & Wildlife, who responded quickly to help save this animal.

“Unfortunately, the animal expired before a rescue

team could get there,” said Kele Younger, director of the Magic Jungle.

“It was evident that this great cat did not appear to have died of natural causes. Such a senseless killing of an extraordinary local, wild animal.”

The preserve requested a necropsy be done on the mountain lion and initial results showed that she suffered from a broken femur and possible poisoning. The full necropsy will not be completed for five to seven weeks.

At this time, it is believed that she was likely struck by a vehicle, either on or off the road.

State studies some cats for protection

In July 2019, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Mountain Lion Foundation petitioned the Fish and Game Commission to list an “evolutionary significant” unit of mountain lions as a candidate species under the California Endangered Species Act.

These mountain lions live in Southern California and the central coast of California. In April 2020, the commission found that the listing may be warranted and designated mountain lions within the unit as a candidate species. As a result, the Department of Fish and Wildlife is now completing a 12-month status review of mountain lions within the proposed unit.

Hund said that this death highlights some of the issues facing the species.

“These include habitat loss and fragmentation, poisoning by rodenticides and strikes by vehicles,” he said. “Reducing these threats is imperative to the future of these animals.”

Locally, one major concern for mountain lions is their need to cross high traffic areas like the Twentynine Palms Highway and Old Woman Springs Road.

“Roads fragment lion habitat, making them more vulnerable to vehicle strikes and subjecting them to isolation from each other, which can lead to less healthy populations due to loss of genetic variation, and even to local extinction,” Hund said. “They need wildlife corridors with good highway crossings to remain connected, to maintain minimum viable populations.”

The Mojave Desert Land Trust has been working for years on maintaining wildlife corridors by purchasing land to be protected in the Morongo Basin and in the surrounding area. Wildlife corridors allow space for animals to migrate, and help connect populations so they can forage, find shelter and mate.

The land trust is working with Caltrans in the hopes of creating a wildlife crossing on Twentynine Palms Highway.

“Crossings have been shown to help maintain wildlife movement and reduce costly and dangerous wildlife-vehicle collisions,” said the Center for Biological Diversity in a press release.

Historically, animals killed locally along the highway have included members of several protected species including bighorn sheep, mountain lions and the desert tortoise.

To learn more about some of the conservation work being done by the Mojave Desert Land Trust, visit www.mdlt.org/ connectivity.