Fair Chase is very much part of the American Hunting ethic.............To their credit, Colorado Parks and Wildlife has just recently banned electonic "predator calls" as a means to lure Pumas into easy hunter shooting range.............WILDEARTH GUARDIANS deserves much praise for their continual efforts in optimizing habitat and protections for Colorado Pumas.........Happy New Year to Wendy Keefover and her colleagues at WildEarth Guardians!

For the past decade, WildEarth Guardians has been the leader in work to safeguard the mountain lions of Colorado.  Recently, we secured another conservation victory when the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission unanimously voted to disallow a lion hunter's proposal to use electronic "predator calls" as a means to lure in and shoot mountain lions.

Predator calls come in many forms, but the most common simulate deer fawn, elk calves, or other prey species in distress in order to lure in a native carnivore in the range of a human hunter.
Hunters using predator calls cannot tell the sex of a mountain lion before they shoot.  As a result of our victory, many more mountain lions, and especially females with kittens, will now survive.

Protecting breeding female mountain lions and their dependent kittens from hunting represents a paramount concern to WildEarth Guardians. Over the last decade, we brought three mountain lion hunter education program to fruition. The first such program enacted any where occurred in 2005 in Colorado  because of our sustained campaign. Since then, we also secured mandatory hunter education programs in the States of New Mexico and Montana.

We also argued before the Commission that the use of predator calls is unsporting and unethical. 
We applaud the Parks and Wildlife Commission for unanimously  shutting down this bad proposal. It follows on the heels of other victories we have obtained for Colorado's mountain lions:

-A biologically-defensible mountain lion management plan for Colorado.

-The employment of Ken Logan, PhD, a highly credited lion biologist, who is conducting a 10-year study of lions on the Uncompaghre Plateau.

-And a substantial reduction in the lion-hunting quota.

-Mandatory hunter education to protect breeding females and kittens.

Not only beautiful, lions represent a vital piece of Colorado's natural heritage. Modulating deer populations in Colorado so they don't overbrowse the environment, mountain lions on the landscape increase biological diversity and functional, vibrant ecosystems.

WildEarth Guardians remains vigilant in our quest to protect and conserve Colorado's biggest cat, the mountain lion via our Carnivore Protection Campaign.

Please join us in celebrating this wonderful victory for mountain lions!

For the Wild,

Wendy Keefover
Carnivore Protection Program Director
WildEarth Guardians
wendy@wildearthguardians.org