While such diseases -- called zoonoses -- have been around for millennia, they have become more common in recent decades due to deforestation, mass livestock cultivation, climate change and other human-induced upheavals of the animal world, experts say.

“These big cats are no match for the network of roads, highways, and sprawl that we’ve built with little regard for their impacts on lions or wildlife connectivity,” Center for Biological Diversity attorney J.P. Rose told HuffPost at the time. P-54 and her sibling were about a year old when their mother was killed, around the early side of the period in which mountain lion kittens typically leave their moms and set out on their own.

Although the study does provide a glimmer of hope for some polar bears, the researchers insist that this does not make climate change any less of a threat to the Arctic predators. "Loss of Arctic sea ice is still the primary threat to all polar bears," Laidre said. "This study does not change that." Sea ice will continue to decline across the Arctic, which will decrease the survival odds for most polar bears, she added.

Deaths have been particularly high in the Indian River Lagoon on Florida’s east coast. One of the most biologically diverse estuaries in North America, it supports about a third of US manatees. More than 30% of manatee deaths last year occurred here, with many the result of starvation as high levels of water pollution killed off the seagrass on which the animals depend.

New York was the first state to ban the procedure in 2019, followed by Maryland earlier this year. This is at least the fourth time California lawmakers have tried to ban declawing since 2018. All of the previous attempts failed. Eight California cities — including Los Angeles and San Francisco — ban declawing. In 2008, California lawmakers passed a law that would have stopped local governments from banning declawing. But the bill never became law because then Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed it.