The Region - News from April 10, 1987

Susan and Donald Small, an El Toro couple whose 6-year-old daughter was mauled by a mountain lion in Orange County last year appeared at a Sacramento press conference aimed at influencing the California Fish and Game Commission to end the 15-year moratorium on hunting the animals. The state Fish and Game Department has proposed a 79-day mountain lion hunting season during which as many as 210 mountain lions could be killed, but the Mountain Lion Preservation Foundation has proposed a continued moratorium on hunting coupled with an intensive, five-year study of the state’s mountain lion population by a nationally recognized expert. Hunting season proponents such as the Smalls, meanwhile, described the effort to save the mountain lion as a mere “smoke screen” for those who hope to ban hunting altogether. The commission is to vote on the matter today.