By Mike Costello | Commentary, Westword
Coloradans, I’m writing to you from California, where mountain lion hunting is illegal because of ballot-box biology. The idea of saving mountain lions and bobcats feels noble. They are magnificent critters, and supremely effective at making a living on the landscape (killing prey). We all love wild landscapes filled with diverse wildlife, including elusive and sometimes scary apex predators. While revered and respected for millennia, it is also true that humans have hunted, harvested and managed these animals as part of our own participation in the natural world.
I call upon you: Do NOT abandon what works for wildlife in your great state. Ecosystems are incredibly complex, while Proposition 127 is a blunt-force solution for a problem that does not exist. In the 1960s, Colorado reversed course on the dark days of predator eradication and gave mountain lions the title of “Big Game Animal,” creating a hunt grounded in science-based management and requiring all successful hunters to harvest mountain lion meat for consumption. The system developed by Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) results in wildlife success on a grand scale, and mountain lions are now a favored source of wild game meat for thousands of families.