Colorado residents could have a brand new concern to vote on this November: whether or not to proceed to permit the looking of mountain lions and bobcats.
All looking of those feline predators would finish below a petition filed in Colorado this week by animal rights group Cats Aren’t Trophies. The group has already collected 188,000 signatures — 60,000 greater than essential to get the proposal on the state’s November poll. State officers authorized the petition Wednesday, making certain that Initiative 91 will come to a vote.
That has created a widening rift amongst Colorado residents. On one facet, animal rights activists name looking of lions and bobcats a “merciless, unjustifiable” observe. They mentioned Colorado’s state-managed looking program ends in the “pointless killing of mountain lions and bobcats for his or her heads and delightful fur coats.”
Opponents, then again, declare that Cats Aren’t Trophies has invented an issue that didn’t exist. They are saying a looking ban on the state’s wild cats wouldn’t simply affect longtime hunters — it’s additionally a risk to efficient wildlife administration. Additionally they notice that it’s already unlawful — certainly a felony offense — to kill mountain lions or bobcats for less than their fur and head. Their meat legally should be collected.
As for Colorado’s wildlife officers, they’re caught within the center. Colorado Parks & Wildlife (CPW) says its looking plan has confirmed efficient in managing animal populations. But when voters move the measure this November, they haven’t any alternative.
“We take no place for or in opposition to it,” mentioned CPW spokesperson Bridget O’Rourke. “We’ll implement something handed by the voters and the legislature.”
Science or Emotion?
It’s not the primary time that Colorado voters have determined to vary the state’s wildlife administration coverage. An initiative to reintroduce grey wolves handed in 2020, and the primary animals had been let free final 12 months. State officers nervous the brand new predators would additional affect the state’s elk inhabitants, and a few studies counsel it’s already occurring.
Making selections about how you can handle wildlife — from grey wolves to mountain lions — needs to be primarily based on science, not emotion, mentioned Bryan Jones, Colorado Chapter Coordinator for Backcountry Hunters and Anglers.
“It’s an emotional concern and the oldsters which are main it are taking part in to these feelings,” he mentioned. “It completely goes in opposition to science-based administration and has fairly a little bit of misinformation.”
There are a number of examples of this within the messaging of Cats Aren’t Trophies, Jones mentioned. For instance, Initiative 91 would ban the looking of lynxes, in addition to lions and bobcats. Nevertheless it’s already unlawful to hunt lynxes wherever within the U.S., the place they’re federally protected.
Mountain lion and bobcat populations stay wholesome, in accordance with state officers, and have steadily elevated for the reason that Nineteen Nineties — whilst Colorado continued a restricted annual looking program.
Cats Aren’t Trophies contends in any other case. The group factors to supporters who’re wildlife biologists, veterinarians, and even hunters, arguing that any looking of the cats is damaging to the atmosphere.
“Indiscriminate killing of predators who should not inflicting any issues is unwarranted and destabilizes the peaceable coexistence between people, home animals and predators,” the group says on the web site.
Activists: Trophy Looking ‘Not a Good Look’
In Colorado, it’s unlawful to kill a mountain lion with out utilizing the meat.
“There are lots of of recipes and lots of of hunters that make superb meals out of those animals,” Jones mentioned.
Once more, Cats Aren’t Trophies says in any other case.
“Anybody who says they recreationally hunt mountain lions or bobcats to fill their freezer and feed a household is being disingenuous. It’s not regular conduct to eat a cat,” the group’s marketing campaign supervisor, Sam Miller, advised GearJunkie. “When somebody says they’re consuming cats, they’re trying to justify a conduct the general public finds unacceptable. It’s merely an excuse to kill mountain lions and bobcats for trophies.”
The time period “trophy looking” looms massive within the group’s argument. They despatched GearJunkie many examples of hunters utilizing the time period for mountain lions killed within the state.
Colorado does enable mountain lion hunters to make use of canines. Digital predator calls are allowed when coping with “battle lions” close to residential space, in accordance with a 2020 state administration plan.
Nevertheless, even Cats Aren’t Trophies acknowledges that some animals will nonetheless must be killed. The language of Initiative 91 permits for the “deadly elimination” of lions after they pose a hazard to people.
So, Colorado will nonetheless should handle the animals — however with out the funding that comes from promoting looking licenses. Colorado wildlife officers mentioned that cash helps conservation efforts all through the state.
A Wonderful Line Between Looking and Conservation
If Colorado voters approve Initiative 91 this fall, it’s laborious to foretell what’s going to occur to the state’s wildlife.
California, for instance, banned the looking of mountain lions in 1990. Nevertheless it left an exception for cats that assault livestock. That has led to extra mountain lions killed every year than earlier than the ban was enacted, in accordance with a 2017 investigation by The Sacramento Bee. Animal rights teams are actually pressuring the governor to take additional motion to guard the state’s massive cats.
Utah officers went the opposite route. Final 12 months, the legislature authorized the year-round looking of mountain lions. In 2022, the state’s Division of Wildlife Assets supplied almost 4,000 cougar looking permits — twice the animal’s estimated inhabitants.
In Colorado, officers restrict mountain lion harvests to 17% of the species populations in a given area. The cap for mountain lion harvests is modified yearly, with the 2023-24 looking season cap at 674 animals. In 2023, hunters harvested 486 lions.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife requires hunters to report every lion they kill inside 48 hours. After that, the hunter has 5 days to current every lion at a CPW workplace for an inspection. There’s additionally an official seal that enables the hunter to maintain the disguise.
However no quantity of regulation makes looking mountain lions acceptable, in accordance with the Mountain Lion Basis, which helps Initiative 91.
“Some individuals declare that with out looking mountain lions, they are going to overpopulate, decimate deer herds, and lose their concern of individuals,” wrote Paige Munson, the group’s science and coverage coordinator. “Each piece of proof we have now signifies that mountain lion populations are restricted by habitat and meals availability requiring no ranges of looking. Bear in mind, cougars didn’t evolve to be hunted. “
