First Cougar Captured, Fitted With Transmitter in Orange County Study

The first mountain lion has been captured and fitted with a special radio transmitter as part of a two-year study of cougars in south Orange County’s rapidly developing foothills.

The 80-pound, female cat was caught Wednesday by professional trackers and a team of hounds in rugged chaparral south of Ortega Highway and several miles east of San Juan Capistrano.

It took the hunting party nearly nine hours to locate the cougar after picking up its trail in the unpopulated area near Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness Park. The cat was tranquilized, fitted with a thick leather collar that has a radio transmitter and then released.

The cougar is the first of what wildlife biologists hope will be 10 mountain lions equipped with battery-powered beepers roaming the study area--roughly 70,000 acres of publicly and privately owned land from Rancho Santa Margarita south to the San Clemente back country.

A team of UC Berkeley researchers will monitor the cougar’s movements and breeding patterns to determine the size and range of the county’s cougar population, which many believe has been increasing and poses a threat to the rapid residential development pushing into the foothills.

Last year, a 5-year-old El Toro girl and a 6-year-old Huntington Beach boy were mauled by mountain lions in Caspers park, and cougar sightings elsewhere in the area have resulted in large portions of the parks, hiking trails and picnic areas being closed.