Kitty, kitty, kitty

California is Cougar Country...for now;

Mountain lions are not threatened or endangered, but are the state’s only specially protected mammal based on political initiative. Since lion populations started expanding, California’s deer population has declined from 2 million in the 1960s to 850,000 in the 1990s and an estimated 445,000 this past winter....

It's been survival for the fittest politically, but fashions can change;

The big question is for areas where there are hungry mountain lions, yet there aren’t enough deer left to go around: What will the lions eat next?

As long as they stick to the odd hiker or horseback rider, the cats are probably safe. However, studies show;

In the Puma Project in the south Sierra Nevada, the study’s aim is to determine if the lions are threatening the area’s population of fishers, a weasel-like mammal. Fishers are protected as a candidate species under the California Endangered Species Act, whereas lions are not.

Bring in the law firms!