DNA identification of mountain lions involved in livestock predaton and public safety incidents and investigations

Using three case studies, we demonstrated the utility of techniques to analyze DNA from trace samples collected at sites of livestock predation and public safety incidents. Genetic analysis was used to determine species, individual identity, and relatedness between individuals. We documented the presence and individual identities of a mountain lion (Puma concolor) and a bobcat (Lynx rufus) from swab samples collected from bite wounds in domestic sheep that had been killed at the University of California Hopland Research and Extension Center, Mendocino County, California. Four lions and two bobcats in Redwood National Park were individually identified and tested for relatedness using DNA from scats and captured animals. Another lion was genetically typed and matched at a public safety incident through blood spots left near a barn in one location in the San Joaquin Valley, and muscle sample collected from a lion captured ten miles distant one week later. We applied statistical techniques developed for human forensic DNA analysis and a DNA database that we have compiled for California mountain lions