I went to a hunting seminar in San Diego last month and the spokesman had some statistics on the sheep population:

Mountain Lions in San Bernadino County alone over the last 10 years have growen from an estimated 1,600 to 6,000 cats. All while our sheep population is estimated to be down around 200 from 2,000!

There is currently talk going on about opening some tags for big cats in the next year or two. There is a deffinate population inbalance and safety situation here.