American Scientist

To the Editors:

In the article “Suburban Stalkers: The Near-Wild Lions in Our Midst” (September–October), Robert Louis Chianese says on page 279 that “only two megacities” have mountain lions. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, and mountain lions are reported regularly. In particular, in Oakland where I live, neighbors regularly see mountain lions. In addition, here is a recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle with a report of a sighting: http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/How-did-a-cougar-find-its-way-to-San-Francisco-12346037.php.

Mountain lions are frequent enough that we have training on what to do when we see them.

Howard Matis
Oakland, CA

Dr. Chianese responds:

I appreciate the comment from the reader questioning expert opinion about lions in megacities. The comment is not quite correct about lions in San Francisco itself, with just one discovered in the past month.

Having an occasional lion may not be what lion experts mean by only two megacities with a lion population. For example, the San Francisco Chronicle story to which Mr. Matis refers points out the puzzling anomaly of this lion in the city—raising questions about how it got there and where it came from. This sighting is a rarity. By contrast, rural and suburban Los Angeles has more than 50 lions, with some 20 or more actively tracked that are what we might call “in residence,” with the males roaming for many miles and sightings being quite frequent—there was one in my neighborhood a week ago. Nevertheless, it is clear that we all need to know how to act when we see one, and my point stands that people still have to decide just how to manage these wonderful beasts.