The Fish and Game Department issued a depredation permit to a
Gilroy homeowner, allowing him to kill the mountain lion found
preying on his goats this morning.
The Fish and Game Department issued a depredation permit to a Gilroy homeowner, allowing him to kill the mountain lion found preying on his goats this morning.
The offending lion attacked and killed five goats on a farm about five miles northeast of Gilroy. The lion was dragging one of the dead goats from the farm when the homeowner came outside and scared it away, Fish and Game spokesperson Steve Martarano said.
Although the permit to kill the lion was issued, the animal was not a public safety threat, Martarano said.
“For the most part, they are scared off by humans,” he said. “They normally do not attack people.” Only 16 verified mountain lion attacks on humans have occurred in California since 1890, six of them fatal, according to the Fish and Game Web site.
The permit was issued because of the threat the lion posed to the farm’s livestock. The permit is necessary because mountain lions are a protected species in California. It is illegal to hunt them, Martarano said. Fish and Game issues these permits to kill the lion, rather than capture and relocate it, once the animal has displayed unusually bold or aggressive behavior because of the potential threat to others.
“Depredation permits are very common as more and more lions get pushed out of their habitat,” he said.
Another mountain lion was spotted in a very busy area of Pasadena Friday, he said, and Hayward residents reported spotting a mountain lion twice last week. A Gilroy woman found a mountain lion cub in her backyard last October and police reported another spotting last December. However, Fish and Game hasn’t issued a depredation permit in Santa Clara County since 2006, according to their Web site.
