Colorado cuts April hunting season, electronic lures after 198 mountain lions were killed in a month
Of those lions killed, nearly 44% were female — posing a risk to cubs born to breeding-age lions in that population.
National Parks Service/Courtesy photo
Mountain lion advocates are up in arms over lion kills in the first month of hunting season, particularly because so many female lions have been killed.
In a news release Wednesday, Animal Wellness Action said an open records request to Colorado Parks and Wildlife revealed that between Nov. 27 and Dec. 31, 198 lions were killed, 87 of which were female, or 43.9%.
That breakdown has opponents of lion hunting concerned.
“Females are essential to population health and trophy hunting of females at this rate is unsustainable for the mountain lion population,” Josh Rosenau, director of policy and advocacy for the Mountain Lion Foundation, said in the release.
Julie Marshall, the group’s director of public relations, added: “Cougar moms care for their cubs for up to two years, so it’s likely that many of the cougars killed already this winter left cubs behind, to fend for themselves or starve. The body count is disturbing, given that all of these felines were randomly targeted for no good reason.”
Read more from Tracy Ross at ColoradoSun.com
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