Mountain lions increasingly share landscapes with humans at the urban-wildland interface, creating welfare challenges for individuals and requiring innovative coexistence management.
Urban-interface mountain lion welfare involves chronic stressors that wild populations in intact landscapes do not face. Isolation between fragmented habitat patches reduces genetic diversity and increases inbreeding. Individual animals must navigate roads — many are killed in vehicle collisions. Animals venturing into suburban areas in search of prey face lethal removal. P-22 exemplified the welfare costs of urban isolation: his final years showed deteriorating health from rat poison ingestion, mange, and vehicle impact injuries. Wildlife crossing infrastructure addresses the root cause of fragmentation-driven welfare harm. Coexistence education reduces lethal encounters by helping communities respond appropriately to mountain lion presence rather than defaulting to lethal removal.