There’s a pattern to when bear, mountain lion conflicts worsen in California
Droughts in California don’t just strain water supplies. They strain relations between people and wildlife. A study published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances found that conflicts between humans and animals, be it a bear break-in at Lake Tahoe, a mountain lion eating a sheep in Sonoma County or a coyote toppling trash cans in San Francisco, have been significantly higher during the state’s dry spells. … Losing just one inch of annual precipitation, the authors found, has meant, for some carnivores, as much as a 3% increase in clashes with humans – an amount that adds up quickly in years with substantially less rain.
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