The Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) Commission recently proposed a plan to kill a significant number of mountain lions and black bears living in Colorado as part of two studies aimed at increasing the mule deer population.
Despite multiple studies showing otherwise, CPW believes targeting mountain lions and black bears will reduce predation on mule deer and thus increase the number of deer.
Mountain lions and black bears are iconic species to Colorado and provide a variety of benefits to the state's ecosystem. If the two cruel predator-control studies are approved, up to 50 percent of all mountain lions will be killed in the Salida area, and a large number of mountain lions and black bears will be killed over a three-year period in the Rifle region.
This level of persecution is too high for slow-to-produce species like mountain lions and black bears. It will not only cause a decline in both species populations but will also harm kittens and cubs who will be orphaned and likely die as a result of starvation, predation or exposure to harsh weather.
The CPW Commission will meet in mid-December to vote on the two native carnivore killing studies in Colorado. We must speak out now!
Sign the petition and urge the CPW Commission not to support the unnecessary killing of Colorado’s iconic mountain lions and black bears.
Subject: Please do not kill Colorado's mountain lions and black bears
Dear Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission,
As a Colorado resident, I am writing to ask that you do not support the unnecessary killing of our state's iconic mountain lions and black bears in order to help boost mule deer populations.
The best available research shows that the true factors limiting mule deer populations are inadequate food resources, fire suppression and habitat loss and fragmentation caused by heavy residential and energy development in the region. Why target predators when all these other factors are involved?
Killing a large number of mountain lion and black bears in Colorado will not only result in population declines for both species, but will be harmful to our state's sensitive ecosystem.
Predators are seldom the ultimate factor in ungulate declines. The decline of the mule deer population across the west is likely the result of a combination of multiple limiting factors, including a lack of high-quality winter range. Therefore, targeting mountain lions and black bears will not solve the issue.
Mountain lions and black bears are iconic to Colorado and provide a variety of benefits to our state's ecosystem. Unnecessary, redundant and cruel predator-control studies have no place in a modern Colorado. The studies do not support the values of Colorado's public majority who care about the state's native carnivores and want them to persist, unharmed, in their last remaining wild habitats.
Please oppose the unnecessary killing of Colorado's iconic mountain lions and bears.
[Your Comment]
Thank you,
[Your Name]
