Lion hunting opponents focus on upcoming CPW Commission in Lamar

Lamar, CO., November 13, 2024 — Despite the significant loss at the ballot box and previous efforts at the State Legislature and CPW Commission, proponents of the measure to ban lion hunting have pivoted their focus back to the CPW and Thursday’s CPW Commission meeting in Lamar.

The CPW Commission, the governing body for wildlife management decisions in the state, is currently considering the approval of an east-slope mountain lion management plan. Former CPW Commissioner Gaspar Perricone noted the plan has been years in the making through stakeholder engagement.

“The electoral outcome demonstrates the public’s commitment to ensuring wildlife management decisions continue to be developed and administered by wildlife professionals at Colorado Parks and Wildlife,” Perricone said. “In concert with that, the people have spoken and we certainly stand with them and have every intention through the Colorado Wildlife Conservation Project to continue to be a frontline of defense ensuring that the standards of holistic wildlife management continue into the future.”

The lion ban proposed by Cats Aren’t Trophies (CATS) passed only in six counties. Prop 114, which mandated the release of wolves in the state, passed by a significantly higher margin, passing in 13 counties, though both were primarily in urban and suburban areas.

“It is a bit of an ironic reality that the outcome that didn’t go their way seems not to carry the same weight that the outcome of Proposition 114 did,” Perricone said. “Regardless, an 11-point win, I think, is a rather definitive measure and by all accounts offers the wildlife conservation community a mandate to continue to pursue science-based wildlife management both in practice and in principle.”

Julie Marshall, communications director for CATS said in a release that CPW “operates at its peril by stonewalling on obvious reforms to protect wild cats. The vote was anything but a mandate on baiting, trapping and hounding — it was a vote of deference to the agency to take action itself.”

Perricone said he expects the Commission – including the three who spoke publicly in support of the hunting ban - to have taken stock of the electoral outcome but also anticipates a broader spotlight on deliberations and upcoming votes with regard to hunting as the Commission gavels in Thursday in Lamar. The Commission is expected to discuss and vote on the plan, including consideration of changes to the harvest limits and group compositions for Mountain Lion hunting to implement the East Slope Mountain Lion plan. The discussion is on the agenda at 11 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 13 at the LaMar and online on the Commission’s YouTube channel.

Source: Western Ag Network