Mountain lions face growing pressure from habitat fragmentation, human-wildlife conflict, and trophy hunting across the American West. Their welfare is tied to landscape connectivity.
Wild mountain lion welfare is shaped by three primary threats: road mortality from habitat fragmentation, lethal removal following livestock conflicts, and trophy hunting. Vehicle strikes cause traumatic injuries that may be immediately fatal or result in prolonged suffering. Mountain lions caught in livestock conflicts face trapping and lethal control using methods that cause variable degrees of suffering. Trophy hunting, legal across most western states, raises animal welfare questions about the manner of killing and its impacts on surviving dependent offspring when females are killed. Highway wildlife crossings — now being built at key pinch points like the Liberty Canyon crossing in California — reduce collision mortality and are a direct welfare benefit.