50% of Bay Area mountain lion diet is pets
In the San Francisco Bay Area, approximately 50% of the diet of mountain lions consists of pets, according to data from depredation tag studies.
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Wildlife Management Disasters: Coyotes, Mongoose & Feral Cats
At 1:46:01 · chapter starts 1:40:00
Andrew Wilson opens with the Michigan story: the DNR imported Western coyotes to control the deer population, but the coyotes had an all-you-can-eat buffet of pheasants, rabbits, and small pets — and never seriously touched the deer. The pheasant hunting that had defined Midwestern rural culture for generations was destroyed. The state eventually had to do what everyone suggested from the start: issue more deer tags at lower prices. Rogan matches with California's mountain lion problem — animal rights activists infiltrated the Department of Fish and Game, outlawed both baiting and dog hunting, and the mountain lion population exploded to the point where 50% of Bay Area mountain lion diets now consist of domestic pets. Wilson caps it with Hawaii's mongoose disaster: diurnal animals introduced to eat nocturnal rats, they simply never met the rats and instead ate all the ground-nesting birds including the state bird. And then Australia's feral cat bounty, which Rogan learned about from bow hunting magazines his friend gave him — where feral house cats are now mounted like trophies.
The Wildlife Management Disasters: Coyotes, Cats, and Mongoose
Michigan's DNR imported Western coyotes to control deer, and they ate all the pheasants instead. Hawaii brought mongoose to eat rats, but mongoose are diurnal and rats are nocturnal — so they ate the state bird. Australia imported cats and now hunts them for bounty. Every ecosystem intervention follows the same pattern of spectacular failure.
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