Perceptions of Mountain Lions 121the southern region, which could affect the availability of this species as well. Despite
multiple attempts to help him understand the observations he had mentioned, each
time I stopped talking, he stated, “You don’t understand, lions are killing all the deer
and elk and I didn’t get a tag this year.” By the end of our conversation, it became ob-
vious to me that the more simplistic conclusion would be the accepted cause, no
matter the complexity of the situation, and when a large predator, in this case a moun-
tain lion, was involved, the conclusion was going to be: predators, in this case mountain
lions, kill prey, and more predators kill more prey. Another understanding was that
there is a threshold of ac cep tance of large predators when they colonize or recolonize
new regions.
The Early Years
In 2002 Larry Gigliotti, Dorothy Fecske (my first student working with mountain
lions), and I collaborated on a public opinion survey regarding perceptions of South
Dakotans regarding lions (Gigliotti, Fecske, and Jenks 2002). Prior to the survey, it
was assumed that most South Dakotans pretty much hated and feared the new preda-
tors and wanted them eliminated from the state. We believed these first perceptions
were biased by the views expressed by a few people who repeatedly contacted the
South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks to complain about the presence
of lions (i.e., the squeaky wheel gets the grease); however, we had no information to
support our assumption. The survey included about 1,100 responses from 1,783 resi-
dents surveyed (62% response rate). Responses were from South Dakota residents
who lived in the Black Hills region as well as those from outside the region where
mountain lions occurred (mostly eastern South Dakota). The responses to the survey
indicated that there were generally two attitudes toward mountain lions: pro- lion and
anti- or contra- lion ( table 8.1). Over 50% of respondents to the survey were either
slightly or strongly pro- lion. Many of these respondents equated the presence of the
lion to a complete and healthy ecosystem for the Black Hills. Just over 30% were
slightly or strongly anti- lion; about 4% were neutral or had no attitude toward the spe-
cies. As might be expected, when we reviewed this finding, we wondered who made
Table 8.1. Attitudes of South Dakotans toward mountain lions
Mountain lion attitude groups Number Percent
Strongly pro- lion 242 23%
Slightly pro- lion 360 34%
Neutral 120 11%
Slightly contra- lion 240 22%
Strongly contra- lion 105 10%
Source: Gigliotti, Fecske, and Jenks 2002.