After a week of public debate, Arizona Game and Fish officials backed off their plan to kill mountain lions roaming Sabino Canyon and instead intend to tranquilize and remove the big cats to a private facility.

The state Game and Fish Department has been trying to track down and kill three or four mountain lions in the popular recreation area near Tucson since last July, but it was only late in the week of March 8 that public scrutiny began to focus on that plan.

Officials with the department and members of the Game and Fish Commission maintained for several days over the course of two meetings that the mountain lions apparently have lost their fear of humans and the potential is high for an attack on visitors in the canyon, as well as on residents of nearby residential areas.

The department said it had reports that the lions were roaming and lounging without fear of humans, and, in some cases, were stalking people. Game and Fish officials said they believe that people have put out food for the mountain lions, and also are feeding animals the lions feed on, such as deer, actions that are emboldening the big cats.

On March 18, at least two adults reported seeing a mountain lion walking around the parking lot at Esperero Canyon Middle School in Tucson, the Game and Fish Department stated in a news release. Children were kept inside the school until classes ended.

Answering criticism and suggestions from some members of the public, Game and Fish officials previously said it would be useless to try to relocate the mountain lions to other areas of Arizona, because that would just move the threat to another part of the state. Deputy Director Steve Ferrell also said that because of the territorial nature of mountain lions, relocating one would lead to a likely fatal conflict between the newcomer and the incumbent lion.

Mr. Ferrell said in a news release March 18 that public safety “remains paramount,” but that the plan now is to airlift the mountain lions out of Sabino Canyon.

“The bottom line for us is to get the threat out of the canyon,” Mr. Ferrell said. “So we’re going to go in, track the cats, tranquilize them and helicopter them out. We haven’t yet worked out all the particulars, but we intend to begin the operation next week.”

Jim deVos, who heads Game and Fish’s research, said in the same news release: “This is not a risk-free operation for either the lions or the humans involved in the capture. The first risk is what’s called capture myopathy – essentially, stress from having been tracked. The second is a minor risk associated with administering the tranquilizer.

“There’s also, of course, the risks associated with the airlift, which also includes the risk to humans from flying a helicopter into steep canyons,” Mr. deVos said. “It’s a pretty big deal to do this.”

Mr. Ferrell said, “This situation is an exception to the rule, an extraordinary exception. Our first concern remains public safety, and our protocols for responding to situations involving dangerous predators in proximity to humans are consistent with sound wildlife management practices and with the policies and procedures of other fish and wildlife agencies across the U.S. Those protocols will not change.”

Sierra Club Says Commission Hasn’t Made Its Case

Sandy Bahr, conservation outreach director for the Grand Canyon chapter of the Sierra Club, said, “At least they are finally paying attention to the public, instead of marching forward without listening to the public and the governor.”

On the other hand, Ms. Bahr said: “This is not an appropriate way to deal with large animals. We still don’t have know why they decided these animals were some kind of imminent threat. They haven’t really made that case. This does not send a message to the public that we need to live with wildlife; it says if there’s enough scrutiny, they will remove the animals to a zoo or some other enclosed facility. Mountain lions have large ranges.

“Clearly, this is part of an issue bigger than these few animals,” Ms. Bahr said. “This is a systemic problem on how this agency deals with wildlife, and how the state deals with development encroachment on wildlife.”

Mr. Ferrell could not be reached to comment on why the department and commissioners relented in their goal to have the mountain lions killed. The March 18 news release suggests that some private individuals or organizations may help foot the bill for the airlift removal, which Mr. Ferrell estimated will cost $4,000 to $6,300 a day. The news release does not name the facility to which the mountain lions will be taken.

27 Lawmakers Sign Petition To Suspend Hunt

Governor Napolitano and Rep. Ted Downing, D-28, whose district includes Tucson, were among the elected state officials who had criticized the plan to kill the mountain lions. By March 17, 27 legislators had signed a petition circulated by Mr. Downing that urged the Game and Fish Department to “immediately suspend the plan to hunt and destroy the three or four mountain lions that have been sighted in Sabino Canyon.”

“Also, we request a moratorium until Game and Fish has met with members of the Arizona House of Representatives and state Senate to discuss the conflict and mitigation measures,” the nonbinding petition reads. “During this period, we wish to hold a public question and answer forum between legislators and the Game and Fish Commission in Tucson. Informational meetings would increase our abilities to respond to constituent questions and help us evaluate possible legislative actions to protect the public and fulfill our legislative duties.”

Left unsaid in the March 18 news release from Game and Fish is the prospect that the mountain lions might not be found, although officials implied as much in stating that they already have been attempting to track down and kill the big cats since July 2003.

Federal Land And State Management

Sabino Canyon Recreation Area is not state land but part of the Coronado National Forest, administered by the U.S. Forest Service. Larry Raley, the Santa Catalina District ranger whose duties include overseeing Sabino Canyon, said the federal agency manages the recreation area but has always left it to state agencies such as Arizona Game and Fish to deal with wildlife.

The Forest Service decided to close Sabino Canyon on March 9 out of concern for the public’s safety. March is the height of the visitor season, Mr. Raley said. The recreation area typically sees as many as 2,000 visitors a day in the spring, when many visitors like to see runoff of snow melt flowing down the canyon’s creek.

The closure is costing the Forest Service as much as $10,000 a day in visitor admissions, Mr. Raley said, but the overriding concern is for public safety.

“The recreation area will remain closed until I and the Game and Fish Department decide the threat is no longer there,” Mr. Raley said. “That could be a few days or several weeks. Reopening the area is contingent on not having the lions that are behaving inappropriately in the canyon.”

Mountain lions, also known as cougars or pumas, can grow as large as 230 pounds and measure up to 5 feet from nose to rump. Paul Beier, a professor of wildlife ecology at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, has documented 13 fatal mountain lion attacks in the United States going back to 1890, although seven of those have occurred since 1989.

The most recent mountain lion attack in Arizona was on a 4-year-old girl who suffered serious injuries when she was attacked in a campground near Bartlett Lake. —

Reporter Grant Smith contributed to this story.