To the editor,
On Sept. 30, Annabelle Kiely wrote her opinions about mountain lions and Proposition 127. Regrettably her article only added to the ample wrong and misleading information about lion and bobcat hunting in Colorado. I know because before I retired I was the statewide Carnivore Biologist for Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Here is some factual information. A deer license costs about $47, a mountain lion about $60. That is for residents of Colorado. If you aren’t a resident those licenses will cost you $480 and $500 respectively.
Most recently each year about 500 lions are taken by Colorado hunters. This is out of a population of more than 4,000-4,500 independent animals. Research shows that annual removals less than about 22% are sustainable. But, Colorado restricts hunting such that actual removals in most places is about 12-14%. That is responsible scientific wildlife management.
Lion hunters are accused of only killing for trophies. But doing that is already illegal in Colorado. In fact, it’s a felony and wildlife officers fiercely protect against these offenses.
Lion hunting is perhaps the most tightly regulated big game species. Hunters have to take an exam about hunting ethics and lion gender identification before they can get a license.
Hunters have to check the whole lion to wildlife officers for gender ID, tissue sample collection, and a tooth is taken for aging. In the prior 3 years about 15% of all harvested lions have been adult females. This testifies to how well hunters are at protecting adult females, the segment of lion populations that most influence population growth.
Trained dogs are used to trail and tree lions because it’s proven the best way to protect adult female lions. States that prohibit use of dogs will kill 10-25% more females than we do in Colorado.
I’ve hunted and studied lions myself and the effort was greater than nearly all of my hunting experiences. The notion of hunters just driving to a treed lion and firing away is false imagination.
Whether you vote for or against Prop 127 should be based on reality not false emotions.
Based on nearly 4 decades of service to Coloradans and to these incredible animals, hunting is a vital tool and absolutely not a threat to their survival. In fact, it is paradoxical that if lion had never been declared a game species back in 1965, they very likely would have been extirpated in Colorado.
Jerry Apker
Carnivore Biologist (Ret.)
Jerry Apker retired from the Colorado Parks and Wildlife in 2017. During his 38 years there he was a wildlife officer, wildlife officer supervisor, and 17 years as Colorado’s Carnivore Biologist.
