These last months I have learned more than I ever wanted to know about the brutal, unsporting killing of Colorado mountain lions and bobcats for their heads and beautiful coats. I have also learned more than I ever wanted to know about how trophy hunters freely use misleading pseudo-science to trick voters.
Spoiler alert: if you don’t already know, you will read the actual, real, visceral truth about what is happening to our wildlife in the following paragraphs. It is very ugly indeed, and absolutely unnecessary. Yet we can change what is happening with a “yes” vote on Prop 127.
Prop 127, Cats Aren’t Trophies, protects mountain lions and bobcats from unethical and cruel trophy hunting of these magnificent animals. My humane and principled hunting family and friends would never set a pack of dogs fitted in GPS collars to run down a wild cat, or profit from selling off our wildlife to the highest bidder to make a fur coat.
Trophy hunting is not like hunting deer and elk for food, which is still a sizeable economic driver in Colorado. The hounding and baiting of our mountain lions and bobcats bring in a miniscule 0.4% of funds to Colorado Parks and Wildlife, according to our Secretary of State. Clearly, this “sport” is not boosting our economy.
Using these wild cats for thrill killing or personal profit is especially offensive to me due to the suffering the manner of death causes. Lions are run to exhaustion, attacked by dogs and then often shot at close range out of a tree, which they have climbed to escape. Over 47% of killed Colorado lions last year were female. When mama lion doesn’t return home, her orphaned kittens have a 4% survival rate.
We can choose our nature when it comes to nature.
Bobcats are live-trapped for their fur. They may wait in extreme fear for days in a live trap. Then in order not to damage the fur, they are bludgeoned, choked to death or poisoned. Their last few moments of life are filled with terror and suffering. Bobcat traps are also unselective, catching other species such as lynx, raptors, otters, foxes, martens, badgers, opossums, and skunks.
Lion hunting and bobcat trapping are clearly inhumane and violate the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation, which prohibits killing animals for profit or trade. It’s this deliberate indifference and heartlessness that we have the power to change on Nov 5 by voting “yes” for Prop 127.
The opposition to this measure is a very small yet well-funded group of predator hunters and trappers. They use phrases like “responsible wildlife management” and “ethical harvest” which I note are oxymorons, since there is nothing responsible about “managing” or “harvesting” any animal through the methods described above.
Here is the pseudo-science I mentioned earlier: they use the bogus and deceptive argument that trophy hunting these magnificent beings helps “manage populations.” It does not. Lions and bobcats do not need our management to maintain stable, healthy numbers. This pseudo-science has been roundly disproved by over 22 of the best wildlife scientists in Colorado and around the world, including Jane Goodall and Dan Ash, former head of US Fish and Wildlife. All support Prop 127. You can read it at CatsArentTrophies.org. There is also ample science that illustrates the benefits that these big cats bring to their habitats.
To make my point crystal clear, former Colorado U.S. Senator and Congressman Mark Udall wrote in support of Prop 127, “Today, our agency [Colorado Parks and Wildlife] instead manages a small group of people, so they can trophy hunt for lions, as our state statute and agency define such killing as a ‘wildlife-related recreational opportunity.’ Random killing of lions for trophies, when the state still has no reliably accurate count of their populations, is not professional management.”
Worried about problem animals? Prop 127 continues to allow Colorado Parks and Wildlife to manage individual lions posing any threat to livestock, pets and people.
On one website, these predator hunters state that “Our goal is to preserve the heritage and rights of trappers and sportsmen & women alike.” What heritage is this? What rights to perpetuate cruelty are these? History Colorado reports: “The peak of the Rocky Mountain fur trade ran for a very short period of time, from 1820 to 1840.” The animals most sought after were beaver and bison (HistoryColorado.org/brief-history-fur-trade). There is literally no heritage to kill any animal based on GPS technology. This is a modern “sport” that we can abolish right now, in time to stop the 2024 lion hunting season which is slated to start on Nov. 24.
As a person interested in human nature, I wonder about the folks who, in the act of thrill killing these sentient beings, find joy or satisfaction. These few humans are willing to deny science and promote a false narrative to continue their ruthless behavior. I have speculated that possibly it is a lack of empathy rooted in brain chemistry, or maybe early childhood experiences of bullying or violence that somehow planted the seeds of indifference to the anguish and torment of these animals.
And how do most of us feel about inflicting agony on wild carnivores?
“We found that the United Sates public strongly supports a variety of animal protection policies, especially policies that reduce suffering among wild carnivores,” said Dr. Rebecca Niemiec, Director of the Animal-Human Policy Center at Colorado State University. “However, we also found that the public underestimates the extent to which others in the country care about these issues. By correcting these perceptions, we can show the public and policymakers that reducing animal suffering is indeed a priority for the vast majority of Americans. For more: Sites.warnercnr.colostate.edu/animalhumanpolicy.
I don’t believe that human nature is inherently cruel. There are too many examples to the contrary. We can choose our nature when it comes to Nature. Coloradans voted to banish leg traps in 1992. We voted to outlaw spring bear hunts in 1996. Colorado law § 18-9-202 makes cruelty to animals a criminal offense. Aggravated animal cruelty to those animals we are responsible for– severe, intentional mistreatment – is always a felony in Colorado. Let’s close the loophole on this glaring wildlife exception. See: AnimalLaw.info/statutes/us/colorado.
When we vote “yes” and pass Prop 127 on Nov. 5, we are affirming and upholding the aspects of our human nature that will keep the wildlife and natural landscapes that we hold precious alive, unbroken and thriving. In so doing, we give those same gifts of life to ourselves. That’s the human nature I’m cultivating. So can you. We can do it together.
[This article has been updated to correctly state that Election Day is Nov. 5. — ed.]
