A once-photogenic mountain lion whose carcass was found by a runner in Point Mugu State Park on Sept. 30 died of exposure to rat poisons, the National Park Service confirmed Tuesday.
A necropsy of the puma known as P-34, conducted by scientists at the California Animal Health and Food Safety Lab in San Bernardino, validated the initial suspicions of biologists who found blood running freely inside the dead female.
Rat poisons, or rodenticides, are designed to kill rodents by thinning their blood and preventing clotting. They lead to uncontrollable bleeding.
In addition to proving deadly for their intended targets, these poisons can wreak havoc as they work their way up the food chain. A mountain lion might devour a ground squirrel that consumed the bait or an animal such as a coyote that had eaten another animal with the bait in its system.
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