Welcome!

While working on the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing Project, partners through the #SaveLACougars campaign identified a critical need for communicating information about cougars, coexistence practices, and policy to the public. This document was collaboratively developed by #SaveLACougars partners to comprehensively address questions about cougars, human-wildlife interactions, and coexistence strategies, and to serve as an educational resource to the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing Project, its partners, community members, coexistence managers, and all people with questions about cohabitating with cougars within and beyond California.

The goal of this FAQ is to inform, engage, and empower stakeholders living, recreating, and working in cougar habitat in Southern California surrounding the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing. Some questions and answers herein, especially concerning state and regional policy, contain information specifically pertaining to the Santa Monica Mountains, Verdugo Mountains, Simi Hills, Los Padres National Forest, and areas where cougars are a candidate species for protection under the California Endangered Species Act (CESA). However, the scientific and other coexistence strategy information included here are intended to inform any community members, wildlife managers, coexistence practitioners, stakeholders, or other interested parties wherever cougars and humans coexist. This project was funded by the National Wildlife Federation.