VOTERS COULD ALLOW PUMA HUNTING\Prop. 197 to appear on March ballot.

Byline: Marni McEntee Daily News Staff Writer

Battle lines are being drawn over a March ballot proposition that would eliminate protected status for California mountain lions and lift a ban on hunting the animals after a quarter-century reprieve.

Opponents of Proposition 197, including the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, say the measure is a thinly veiled attempt to allow the trophy hunting of the cougars.

Supporters, including a mountain-lion victims group and sport-hunting enthusiasts, say better management of the animals is essential for public safety.

That fact is underscored, they say, by recent cougar attacks on pets and people - including the deaths of two women in 1994.

"It's causing problems with other species. It's causing problems in neighborhoods. This is a public safety, wildlife management issue, that's it," said Robert Dugan, coordinator for Californians for Balanced Wildlife Management, which supports the measure.

The Legislature banned cougar hunting in 1972. In 1990, voters took the protectionist sentiment a step further by approving Proposition 117, a law that gave cougars protected status in California even though the animals are not a threatened or endangered species.

If the voters approve Prop. 197, the Fish and Game Commission would have the authority to order the Fish and Game Department to control the cougar population as it sees fit, such as providing public education, relocating troublesome animals or even issuing hunting tags.

Prop. 197 also would allow the state Legislature to change laws regarding mountain lions with a simple majority vote, instead of a four-fifths vote as required by the stricter 1990 law.

Opponents of the proposition say there is little doubt that the Fish and Game Department, which has complained about losing its ability to manage the animals under Prop. 117, will allow hunting, an outcome critics see as cruel and unnecessary.

"We don't have an abundance of wildlife resources in California, and to do this would be like putting a big scratch on the Mona Lisa," said Bill Yeates, president of the Mountain Lion Foundation and treasurer of the California Wildlife Protection Coalition - a group formed to fight Prop. 197.

State Sen. Tim Leslie, who authored Senate Bill 28, which placed Prop. 197 on the March 26 ballot, said public safety is at stake.

Department of Fish and Game officials estimate that there are about 5,100 cougars in the state, based on field work conducted in the late 1980s. Nearly 350 lions were sighted near people or near livestock in corrals and fields in 1994.

In the San Gabriel Mountains in the summer, Department of Fish and Game wardens responded to dozens of reported sightings and pet deaths due to mountain lions. Lions also preyed on pets in Santa Clarita and in Ventura County.

In 1994, Barbara Schoener, 40, was killed by a mountain lion as she jogged in a park near Auburn, Calif. In December 1994, Iris Kenna, 56, of San Diego was killed by a cougar as she walked alone in a San Diego County park. Those were the first two fatalities from mountain lion attacks since 1909, according to Department of Fish and Game reports.

"People are now afraid to go out on evening walks," said Leslie, R-Roseville, who represents the district in which Schoener lived. "People are afraid to go running unless they're going to take their knives and guns."

Jeff Weir, a Department of Fish and Game spokesman, said fears that the department will allow trophy hunting are overblown.

Despite increased sightings and encounters with the animals, the public is unlikely to support any changes in fish and game regulations that would allow killing the animals for sport, he said.

On the other hand, the department has taken a hands-off policy regarding mountain lion management since the 1990 law was passed, Weir said.

Currently, the department can kill lions that threaten public safety. The public also can get depredation permits to kill lions that have attacked pets or livestock.

If Prop. 197 is passed, it would allow the department to more thoroughly study the mountain lion problem and take steps to solve problems in particularly troublesome areas, such as the outskirts of Sacramento, in San Diego and Mendocino counties and perhaps in the San Gabriel Mountains, Weir said.

Such studies would entail tracking and trapping the animals, then putting radio collars on the cats to track their movements. If there appears to be too many lions in an area, they may be removed or relocated, Weir said.

Leslie said management doesn't exclude hunting but the proposition doesn't specifically authorize it.

Prop. 197 would allocate $250,000 a year for three years and up to $100,000 per year after that to pay for a Fish and Game Department management plan.

The proposition provides for another $250,000 in funding for a public information campaign but doesn't specify where that money would come from.

Although the opposition is centered around the hunting issue, Dugan, of the group backing Prop. 197, admitted that hunting is unlikely to be considered because it is too controversial.

"It's a political football. It's a very serious, political, emotional issue," Dugan said.

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Proposition 197 aims to end the ban on mountain lion hunting in California, begun in 1972.