SIMI HILLS' LAST 2 MOUNTAIN LIONS DIE FROM ANTICOAGULANT.

Byline: Eric Leach Staff Writer

SIMI VALLEY - The last two adult mountain lions known to be roaming the Simi Hills south of the Ronald Reagan Freeway died from rodent poison late last year, officials say.

Their deaths, which were reported recently, alarmed local leaders who promptly called for an end to the use of anticoagulant chemicals, commonly found in rodent poisons, on Ventura County property.

The body of a female cougar known as P4 was found in the hills between Simi and the Santa Susana Rocketdyne site, and the body of a male cougar known as P3 was discovered southwest of her, toward Thousand Oaks.

The two animals, which were fitted with radio transmitters to track their range, were believed to have ingested the poison after eating poisoned rodents or coyotes that ate poisoned rodents, said officials at the National Park Service in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

The two mountain lions roamed the hills north of the 101 Freeway and on both sides of the 118 Freeway, crossing frequently near Corriganville Park at the east end of Simi Valley. One of them went as far east as Porter Ranch.

Wildlife officials say there are more mountain lions north of the Simi and San Fernando valleys, especially in the Angeles and Los Padres national forests.

But the two that died near Simi Valley last fall were among only four adults known to be living in a wide area covering the Santa Monica Mountains, from the 405 Freeway to Point Mugu, and the Simi Hills, south of the 118 Freeway.

The only mountain lions remaining in the area are two adult cougars and four cubs, which officials believe have never crossed north of the 101 Freeway.

``We don't know of others, but it's possible they are out there,'' said Seth Riley, a wildlife ecologist with the National Park Service.

``The thing about the Santa Monicas and the Simi Hills is that they are isolated (by freeways). There certainly are other lions in the Santa Susana Mountains, north of the 118.''

But the lions' deaths troubled local officials.

``I believe we must take the deaths of two of the last (four) known (adult) mountain lions in our region as a call to action,'' said Ventura County Supervisor Linda Parks.

Parks won unanimous support from the board last week when she asked the county to avoid using the poisons on county property.

``As these poisons move up the food chain, other wildlife and sometimes domestic pets, are unintentionally poisoned,'' she said.

The Ventura County supervisors also voted Tuesday to support legislation by state Assemblywoman Fran Pavley, D-Woodland Hills, which would allow any county to prohibit the sale of the anticoagulant poisons containing brodifacoum, bromadialone, diphacinone and difethilone.

The mouse, rat and gopher poisons most commonly available to homeowners at local stores include some of these anticoagulants.

Representatives of the pest control industry say anticoagulant poisons are an effective means of keeping down the rat population, which represents a major health threat to humans, and they express skepticism that the mountain lions could have died from this cause.

``For mountain lions to die from eating coyotes that ate rodents that ate poison seems like a stretch,'' said Michael Vanausdeln, manager of corporate communications for Syngenta Crop Protection, which manufactures brodifacoum, one of the common anticoagulants covered in Pavley's bill.

``The amount of active ingredient that is in rat bait is enough to kill a rodent, but not a mountain lion. It would have to be an enormous number of rats that ate an enormous amount of rat bait.''

But Riley said examination of the two dead mountain lions that lived in the Simi Hills determined they died last fall from anticoagulant poisoning.

Two other adult mountain lions are alive and apparently doing well along with four cubs in the Santa Monica Mountains south of the Ventura freeway.

An adult male known as P1 is known to roam throughout the Santa Monica Mountains from the Santa Monica Freeway to Point Mugu in Ventura County.

A female lion named P2 that lives in the Malibu Creek area gave birth last summer to four cubs, including two males and two females, now known as P5, P6, P7 and P8, Riley said.

All have been fitted with electronic tracking devices so National Park Service officials can study their movements.

Although the six are the only known mountain lions in the Santa Monica Mountains area, there could be more, Riley said.

Some people reported spotting a mountain lion last year in Griffith Park near the Hollywood sign and speculated that it got to the area through flood control channels. Riley said those reports were not confirmed.

In late 2003, a landowner in the Santa Monica Mountains obtained a permit from the state to shoot P1 after the cougar apparently killed some of the man's goats, but the goat owner took other precautions to protect his herd and P1 survived.

The two cougars that were poisoned sometimes roamed near housing developments, but generally stayed away from people, Riley said.

``People are putting these chemicals into the environment and not understanding what the effects are,'' he said. ``It turns out the effects can be significant.''

Eric Leach, [phone]

eric.leach(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) P1 is an adult male mountain lion that roams the Santa Monica Mountains, from the San Diego Freeway to Point Mugu in Ventura County.

(2) P1, an adult male mountain lion, is one of two adults and four cubs that inhabit the Santa Monica Mountains.

National Park Service