“Emergency” declarations of wildlife escalate fear rather than solve problems
A pattern is emerging across the country – manufactured “emergencies” around native carnivores. The most recent example involves mountain lions in Lassen County, California. Last month, a sheriff invoked “imminent threat” declarations for mountain lions, citing multiple sightings in a rural neighborhood in the Gold Run area, a deer kill near a fence line, and claims that the mountain lions were “clearly comfortable with human presence”.
These declarations are part of a growing political strategy that treats coexistence as impossible, inflames public fear, and uses “emergency” rhetoric to justify increasingly extreme responses to wildlife, including lethal force outside normal permitting systems. Healthy ecosystems require functional predator-prey dynamics. Healthy democracies require transparent public institutions that can withstand fear-based political pressure. Fear-based narratives often bypass meaningful public discussion and distract from the real question: whether wildlife decisions are transparent, accountable, informed by current science, and reflective of the broader public’s values.
Randy Robbins, a Lassen County resident and local wildlife photographer, stated, “I kind of feel like most of us who live here in this little neighborhood can see through this, for the political football that it is. There’s always been mountain lions around here. They’ve never been an imminent threat.” Robbins noted that the area was home to a resident female mountain lion and her yearling offspring, among the wildlife he had photographed over the years. He expressed concern that the sheriff’s fear-based rhetoric might lead to their unnecessary deaths.
Lassen County Mountain Lion | Photo Credit – Randy Robbins
Mountain lion coexistence highlights understanding and respect over fear
Mountain lion sightings near rural communities do not equal an imminent threat, nor does it mean they have necessarily “lost their natural fear” of humans. Lassen County has always been home for mountain lions, and has excellent habitat and wild prey (mule deer) for these elusive wild cats. While the sheriff later said the “imminent threat” had faded after no actual conflicts with people, pets or livestock occurred, state wildlife officials pointed out that the mountain lions in the area had never demonstrated threatening behavior.
A recent article from the California-based Felidae Conservation Fund puts the risks into perspective: you are more likely to be killed by eating contaminated cantaloupes or rocking and tilting vending machines than mountain lions. In mountain lion country, the risks associated with driving a vehicle or striking a deer on the road are far greater. Human fatalities from mountain lions, while highly publicized, are actually very rare (in California, only 4 occurred in the last 40 years). The majority of conflicts with people involve young, inexperienced mountain lions and individual cats suddenly startled and frightened by passing humans. Lethal control does not make people or pets safer, and may actually worsen conflicts by causing stable mountain lion families and social structures to break down.
While often stereotyped as vicious, solitary killers, mountain lions are intelligent cats exhibiting complex social structures and even altruistic behavior. They are keystone species whose prey caches benefit a wide variety of wildlife, from scavenging eagles and black bears to numerous beetle species. As apex predators, they naturally occur at low densities, but can regularly interact and share food with others of their kind, which increases social recognition and can help individuals find mates. Key to this social stability is the presence of an established, resident male occupying a territory, whose loss disrupts social networks. Loss of an adult female also carries rippling impacts if she has dependent cubs. Inexperienced, orphaned young may either starve or come into conflicts with people while looking for food.
In general, mountain lions go out of their way to avoid people. They shift their behavior to travel longer distances and become more nocturnal in areas with human activity. Researchers found that mountain lions moved more cautiously through areas with audio speakers playing human voices, while showing no hesitation in response to the same audio speakers playing frog calls. In some instances, mountain lions may even flee from cached kills upon hearing human voices.
Understanding mountain lion ecology and behavior is key to coexistence and proactively avoiding conflicts. One example is building secure enclosures for domestic sheep and goats at night, which protects them from mountain lion predation. In California, some organizations have even donated and constructed these pens for rural communities. Mountain lions are already adjusting their behavior in response to human presence – we can do the same.
Countering fear-based wildlife misinformation starts at the local level
This story is about more than just one sheriff’s warning about mountain lions; it’s about a pattern. We’ve watched “emergency” declarations become a political tool in wildlife conflicts across the West for Mexican gray wolves, gray wolves, grizzlies, and mountain lions. When local officials frame coexistence challenges as immediate crises requiring extraordinary action, often before facts are fully established, and often in ways that escalate fear rather than solve problems, coexistence, respect and understanding for wildlife are undermined. While the media frames each action as individual, it’s important we recognize this pattern and call it for what it is: baseless fearmongering.
Fear-inflamed narratives don’t stay local. They travel upward. County resolutions influence state pressure campaigns, and can lead to federal riders and legislation attacking wildlife protections altogether. What starts as “public safety concerns” in one county can become justification for dismantling protections nationwide.
These moments matter because conflict with wildlife is real, and communities deserve support, resources, coexistence infrastructure, and frankly, serious conversations about real solutions. “Emergency” rhetoric does the opposite. It becomes political strategy, distorts public understanding and pushes wildlife policy further away from science, proportionality, and democratic accountability. People are starting to recognize the pattern. If we don’t challenge fear-based political narratives at the local level, they become policy at the state and federal level.
Pay attention to your county commissions, your sheriffs, your wildlife commissioners, and your state legislators. Several of the biggest attacks on wildlife protections don’t start in Congress. They start with local officials testing how much fear they can manufacture, and how little accountability they’ll face for it. And for too long, our movement has sidelined this work in favor of a federal focus that has left our wildlife vulnerable.
If you’re ready to change that, check out our Action Hub resources and join our free Building Power for Wildlife Justice cohort to help create positive change and shift narratives in your local area. Check out this resource for more information on mountain lion coexistence.