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September 24 – October 21, 2021 Volume 26, Issue 52
Mountain Lions in Los Angeles Moved Less With Fewer Humans in Parks During the COVID-19 Stay-at-Home Order According to a recent study published in Ecological Solutions and Evidence, as people sheltered in place during the initial stage of the Covid-19 pandemic in Spring 2020, mountain lions in the Santa Monica Mountains and surrounding areas in Greater Los Angeles used smaller areas and moved shorter distances. Speculation from the media and public helped fuel the perception that wildlife expanded their home ranges and were ‘reclaiming’ cities as people sheltered-in-place. Mountain lions, however, did the opposite of that. Biologists from the University of Nebraska, the National Park Service (NPS) at Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, and Virginia Tech conducted the study by investigating the behavior and movement of 12 GPS-collared mountain lions (eight females, four males) occupying parklands and surrounding areas in Greater LA from January to June 2020. They also evaluated whether mountain lions crossed freeways and other major roads with reduced traffic during the Covid-19 shutdown. “Mountain lions are elusive and remarkably good at staying out of sight of humans – even in LA,” said John Benson, an assistant professor of wildlife ecology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the study’s lead author.“These new findings show that, at the height of the stay-at-home order, mountain lions were able to move more efficiently when there was less need to avoid humans. During this period, they were actually closer to trails
and development – places that are usually dominated by humans.” Consistent with previous findings from the same population, it is important to note that mountain lions rarely entered urban areas (less than 2% of the time at night and never during the day). On average, mountain lions monitored via their GPS radio tracking collars were located almost a kilometer away from the nearest development. “Ecological theory predicts that animals should use the smallest areas within which they can acquire resources, such as food, that they need to survive and reproduce,” Benson said. “So, it is actually not surprising that when there were fewer humans out and about, resident mountain lions moved less and used smaller areas as they relaxed their usual avoidance of places frequented by people – like trails in normally busy city parks.” Benson noted that scientists know animal behavior is strongly influenced by humans, but it remains unclear to what degree animals respond to human infrastructure, such as roads and buildings, or directly to people themselves. Previous research has shown that mountain lions in the greater LA area are isolated and inbred because freeways and urbanization act as barriers to the movement of animals. However, despite substantially reduced traffic volume on LA area roadways during Spring 2020, the new study found no evidence that mountain lions crossed roads more frequently. “The fact is that the roads, especially big
Photo: National Park Service
roads like freeways, in Southern California are major barriers to movement for all kinds of wildlife, including mountain lions, because of their size and the amount of traffic,” said Seth Riley, an NPS biologist who has been studying mountain lions in the Santa Monica Mountains for 19 years. “The traffic was reduced certainly, but there was still plenty of use occurring, and the barrier effect doesn’t just disappear.” This new study has provided a rare glimpse into the behavior of the largest wild cat in the United States in its second largest city during an unprecedented reduction in human activity. The decrease in area used and shorter distances traveled by mountain lions within their home ranges during Covid-related reductions in
human activity imply that avoiding humans during periods of ‘normal’ human behavior results in inefficient movement for mountain lions. Such inefficiency by top predators may have far-reaching implications for wildlife ecology and conservation. Mountain lions are threatened with local extinction in the Santa Monica Mountains due to their isolation from nearby populations.Thus, expending additional energy while navigating human disturbance could add extra stress to a population threatened by both genetic and demographic factors in the human-dominated landscape of LA. Since 2002, the National Park Service has
Mountain Lion, see page 4
Recall Bonin Leader’s Home Vandalized After Address Posted on Twitter LAPD investigating September 16 incident B y D olores Q uintana S am C atanzaro
and
Katrina Schmitt, one of the leaders of the Recall Mike Bonin campaign, says the glass front door of her home in Venice was smashed last Thursday around 8:30 p.m after her address was posted on the Twitter account of an antirecall campaign.
The LAPD will be investigating to determine who is responsible for this incident. This event was reported about a week after Bonin’s recall opposition committee published a video that had unredacted information that contained Schmitt’s address. Additionally, the committee’s Twitter account, “Stop The RightWing Recalls”, sent a tweet a few days later that contained both Schmitt’s and fellow Recall Bonin committee member Nico Ruderman’s home address in it. Schmitt alleges that the anti-recall committee’s posting of the information was “intentionally reckless” and that “I think they’re intentionally trying to intimidate us and putting us in danger”.
4910 west Jefferson boulevard, los angeles 90016 • 323-931-8148
It is unlikely that there will be any confirmation of these claims until the LAPD’s investigation is completed. LAPD spokesman Tony Im said investigators cannot say whether Schmitt’s home was specifically singled out or whether the incident is connected to the recall bid. “We can’t make any assumptions at this time,” he said. Jesse Zwick, spokesman for the committee against the recall responded, “I did not intend to reveal anyone’s personal information. I took the post down the minute I was made aware of the error,” he said. He added that the charges made by the recall committee about the release of the information are “absurd” and “reflective of the general dishonesty of the entire recall effort.” According to Zwick, he did not receive a complaint about the information until Wednesday, September 15, the day before the alleged vandalism occurred. Ruderman, who has not reported any incidents at his residence, placed the blame on Bonin for what happened at Schmitt’s. “Mike Bonin is directly responsible for this
Photo: Sam Catanzaro
Councilmember Mike Bonin.
act of political terrorism. He has been telling lies about us, riling his mob into a frenzy and then gives out our home addresses. This is unacceptable. He has put our lives and the lives of our families in danger. He should resign immediately,” Ruderman said in a press release. The tweet from the “Stop The Right-Wing Recalls” Twitter account was deleted and the video was re-edited to remove the information. The Twitter account sent out a tweet that
Bonin Recall, see page 7