We readily admit our estimates will reflect conservation biases: the concern that we need to estimate so conservatively that we will not be taken by surprise when we undertake direct primary research and find that numbers or genetic viability have already begun to suffer-as they have in southern California, Florida, Texas, and South Dakota, for example.īased on the best available data at this time, Mountain Lion Foundation believes the mountain lion population in the United States is unlikely to exceed 30,000. However, we can see the need to comment on the estimates of others. We at the Mountain Lion Foundation prefer not to estimate without good data. The agencies’ biases are imbedded in these estimations.Īgency numbers show an increasing number of lions over prior decades, regardless of the facts: the number of mountain lions killed annually by humans has increased dramatically everywhere mountain lions are found their prey populations are down and habitat is being lost at an astounding pace. The main reason game agencies calculate populations is to set quotas for additional kills, and oftentimes the simple fact that more lions are killed each year is used as an indicator that there therefore must be more lions. State game agencies have estimated mountain lion populations in the United States to be between 20,000 and 40,000 lions. There are approximately 301,000 square miles of forest cover in the western U.S., yet many of these landscapes are fragmented, inaccessible, or intolerant of lions. Nor do we know precisely what population levels are required in order to maintain genetically healthy subpopulations that are ecologically effective on the landscape. This means we just don’t have good estimates of mountain lion numbers in the United States.
Habitat fragmentation, degradation, lack of connectivity and cultural intolerance of mountain lions even on prime habitat makes it difficult to use habitat density to extrapolate and calculate populations on a large scale. The solitary and wide-ranging nature of the mountain lion makes it difficult to directly estimate populations. Listed below is Mountain Lion Foundation’s response to the question of how many lions are left in the United States. The true health of populations in the United States, Mexico, Central and South America is virtually unknown. Every day, our remaining lions are threatened by human population growth, poaching, hunting, development, pollution, and habitat loss. The status of mountain lions (also called cougars, pumas, panthers and catamounts) is very much in question.
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