Tracking Mountain Lions: Dr. Winston Vickers on Saving Southern California's Big Cats
Dr. Winston Vickers
Wildlife research veterinarian, UC Davis (ret), Institute for Wildlife Studies
Dr. Winston Vickers has spent decades studying one of America's big cats, the mountain lion. He's tracked them, collared them, and even studied their poop, all to help Southern California's mountain lions survive. A veterinarian who went back to school mid-career to study big cats, he shares what it's like to come face to face with a mountain lion, why highways are pushing some populations toward extinction, and why killing one lion doesn't solve the problem.
Hear Dr. Vickers talk about:
How he went back to school to study mountain lions after a 20 year vet career
How you trap a mountain lion (it involves roadkill)
The diseases threatening them, from avian flu to feline leukemia
How one freeway split a population and led to dangerous inbreeding
What scat-sniffing dogs reveal about what lions eat
What it was like to collar his first mountain lion
Close encounters with mountain lions
Why "you can't kill your way out of the problem"
Why there seem to be more lions in the suburbs
Why mountain lions keep whole ecosystems in balance
Mentioned in this episode:
Learn more about the California Mountain Lion Project at UC Davis
Listen to A Path for Mountain Lions by The Nature Conservancy, featuring Dr. Vickers
View the mountain lion tracker, where Stacy followed M93
About Dr. Vickers
Dr. Winston Vickers has spent decades studying one of America's big cats, the mountain lion. He's tracked them, collared them, and even studied their poop, all to help Southern California's mountain lions survive. A veterinarian who went back to school mid-career to study big cats, he shares what it's like to come face to face with a mountain lion, why highways are pushing some populations toward extinction, and why killing one lion doesn't solve the problem.
“There was concern that mountain lions in some parts of Southern California were making it harder for these bighorns to recover. So that’s why we started putting collars on the mountain lions.”
Episode 46: Transcript
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