A bobcat that survived a wildfire in California was killed by a car, officials said.
B-361, an adult male, was fatally struck by a driver on Las Virgenes Road in Calabasas on March 15, the Santa Monica National Recreation Area announced on Monday.
“This male cat roamed between the burned and unburned areas of Malibu Canyon. His carcass will undergo a necropsy,” it said.
Officials said earlier in the year that its 20-year study includes 363 bobcats. At least 10 have been killed by vehicles in the study area since 2002, including B-361 and P-23, an adult female that was found dead in late January.
Say hello to B363, our newest bobcat in our two decade long study. Isn’t he super handsome? ???? We’re now up to a total of 363 bobcats who are part of our long study and B363 is our 7th bobcat of the current season. #santamonicamountains pic.twitter.com/RSRzlwdgqz
— Santa Monica Mtns (@SantaMonicaMtns) February 7, 2019
Joanne Moriarty, a wildlife biologist on the project to track bobcats, told KTLA that officials began tracking B-361 on Nov. 6, 2018, two days before the Woolsey Fire broke out.
Vehicles cut through the study area, including on two major freeways, the 405 and 101.
“It’s definitely an important source of mortality,” Moriarty said, though she noted that mange, a parasitic disease of the hair and skin, is the animals’ leading cause of death.
Our biologists recently recaptured P-53, a 3 1/2 yr female mountain lion & treated her for mange, a parasitic disease of the hair & skin. Mange is generally rare in wild cats, however, it has been widespread in bobcats in the Santa Monica Mountains area starting in 2002. pic.twitter.com/hbSjzvuuaI
— Santa Monica Mtns (@SantaMonicaMtns) March 7, 2019
Staff members said on March 7 that biologists recently recaptured one bobcat they’d been tracking, P-53, and treated her for mange.
“Mange is generally rare in wild cats, however, it has been widespread in bobcats in the Santa Monica Mountains area starting in 2002,” it said.
Staff said after the fire started that most of the home ranges for the bobcats were burned.
Mountain Lion Colorado Runner Killed Was a Kitten
The mountain lion that a Colorado man killed with his bare hands after it attacked him was a young kitten, wildlife officials.
Travis Kauffman, 31, went to the hospital for treatment after strangling the cat on Feb. 4 at the Horsetooth Mountain Open Space.
According to a necropsy report (pdf), the mountain lion was around three to four months old when it was killed. The weight of the carcass was 24 pounds but the carcass wasn’t fully intact due to other animals scavenging it, possibly including one of the lion’s siblings. The live weight was estimated at 35 to 40 pounds.
“Necropsy findings support the victim’s description of strangulation,” officials wrote. The necropsy was performed by Colorado Parks and Wildlife veterinarians.
Though kittens are commonly associated with very young members of the feline family, in the report the word could simply mean an immature lion, noted the Coloradoan.
Wildlife officials said they found dried blood between the paw pads as well as surrounding the mouth and nose of the mountain lion but it wasn’t immediately clear if any of the blood was from Kauffman.
The trail runner said he rolled around with the cougar for approximately 10 minutes after it clamped its jaws onto his wrist and refused to let go.
At a press conference, Kauffman told reporters that he was first alerted by a rustle in the pine trees behind him as he ran the trail in Horsetooth Mountain Park. The mountain lion snuck up on him and grabbed onto his hand and wrist.
At one point, with his free hand, he was able to grab a rock and smash it. “I knew with two pretty good blows to the back of the head (and) it didn’t release, that I was probably going to have to do something a little more drastic,” he said. “I was able to kind of shift my weight and get a foot on its neck” until it succumbed.
