A man who fatally shot a protected mountain lion known as P-38 pled guilty and was sentenced to 30 days in jail, 30 days in a work-release program and 240 hours of community service at an animal shelter, the Ventura District Attorney announced Thursday.
Alfredo Gonzalez, 60, of Simi Valley was also placed on three years of summary probation and ordered to pay restitution, which was reportedly more than $2,300 or the cost of the GPS collar he destroyed.
The rifle used to kill the mountain lion was “declared a nuisance by the court and ordered to be destroyed.”
The National Park Service has been studying mountain lions and their movements in the fragmented and urbanized landscape around the Santa Monica Mountains since 2002.
P-38 was among the more than 50 mountain lions biologists have monitored. It was a 7-year-old male that the National Park Service had collared in March 2015 to study its movements. P-38 was said to have sired four litters of cubs.
Researchers received a signal from the collar on July 2 indicating it had died. They discovered the body on July 10 on the property of American Jewish University in Simi Valley, about 50 miles northwest of Los Angeles, according to Reuters.
The collar, which had been cut from the animal’s neck, was found near the body. Researchers determined the cause of death as a gunshot wound to the head.
Gonzalez was employed as a livestock keeper at the university campus, tending to goats and other livestock on the campus in the foothills of the Santa Susana Mountains.
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An investigation led to criminal charges being filed against Gonzalez as it is unlawful to kill a mountain lion without a permit from the California Department of Fish and Game.
“The mountain lion was not in the act of attacking Mr. Gonzalez or his livestock or any student on campus and therefore he needed a permit to shoot it,” Senior Deputy District Attorney Karen Wold in Ventura County told Fox News.
Photos of P-38 from the National Park Service.
