Rat Poison Claims A Giant Cougar

People in the Malibu area seem to be using more rat poison than ever due to the recent fire.

The different landscape has caused a population explosion.

Now comes were that another mountain lion has been found dead …  with rat poison in his liver.

The mountain lion known as P-47 was recently found dead in the central portion of the Santa Monica Mountains.

Lab results found that he was killed by anticoagulant rodenticide, commonly known as rat poison.

The three-year-old male had been exposed to six different anticoagulant compounds, and a necropsy conducted by the California Animal Health and Food Safety Lab found internal hemorrhaging in his head and lungs.

P-47’s death is a huge loss … biologists said … because they don’t believe he had yet mated and passed along his genes.

P-47 was one of only two known offspring of P-45 … and DNA results indicated that P-45 had come from north of the 101 Freeway.

P 47’s death is a blow to the genetic diversity of the isolated mountain lion population south of the freeway

P-47 was a big cat.

He weighed in at exactly 150 pounds at his most recent capture, tied for the largest among all the mountain lions in the history of the NPS study.

Last year Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, along with their park friends group, the Santa Monica Mountains Fund, launched #BreakThePoisonChain .

This is an educational campaign to raise awareness about the negative impacts of anticoagulant rodenticides and encourage local residents to use alternative methods for rodent control … trapping … not poisoning.