We need more lions in Colorado and less trophy hunting

As a hunter, rancher, veterinarian and lifelong member of the NRA, I believe The Denver Post has seriously misread Proposition 127 and fails to understand the true dynamics of trophy hunting of our native wild cats.

Proposition 127 would protect mountain lions and bobcats sufficiently to allow them to provide essential ecosystem services that benefit all of Colorado. Lions in particular are key to the long-term protection of our multibillion-dollar deer and elk hunting economy.

I served in the military for 26 years and commanded the U.S. Army Veterinary Command. I have written peer-reviewed publications on tuberculosis and dengue fever, and I pay attention to sound science that informs us unequivocally that the greatest threat to the long-term viability of deer and elk is the well-documented and dangerously rapid spread of this disease. Chronic wasting disease (CWD).

Mountain lions have honed their skills as deer hunters for nearly 8 million years, and now that CWD among deer and elk is epidemic, lions are known to preferentially kill CWD-infected ungulates, cleansing the population of disease and improving resilience and reproductive health strengthened.

There are, loosely estimated, 3,000 mountain lions in Colorado, down from previously reported numbers of 7,000 in recent years. Trophy hunters take as much as 20% of the lion population each year, affecting the ability of the population as a whole to perform its disease-clearing function.

CWD is now detected in an alarming 40 of 54 deer herds and 17 of 42 elk herds. The infectious agents of CWD are virtually indestructible “prions,” which create so-called “zombie deer,” transforming lithe, prancing deer into gaunt, weak, and stumbling ghosts of their own.

If we make an unwise choice and don’t pass Proposition 127, we will continue to jeopardize the future of Colorado’s most important hunting programs – deer and elk hunting.

We cannot allow a small segment of trophy big cat hunters to undermine the balance of our ecosystems. Nor should we tolerate their inhuman, unsportsmanlike behavior. Releasing dogs to attack lions and bobcats is a fringe practice. A trophy hunt with dogs culminates in the shooting of a terrified animal from a tree.

We do not use dogs to chase elk, deer, or bear, and we do not lure deer into cages to shoot them, as we mistakenly do with bobcats.

As a lifelong honest game hunter, I cannot condone this type of unsportsmanlike behavior. It’s not what my father and grandfather taught me, and I didn’t teach this kind of mistreatment of wild animals to my two hunting sons.

This commercial killing violates the standards of the North American model of wildlife management, which involves paying $8,500 to a trophy hunting guide to send his dogs to attack and tree a lion. The customer doesn’t chase, he waits. And he shoots an animal sitting on a tree branch, sometimes for hours until the shooter appears. The lion might as well be shot at the Denver Zoo for so-called recreational fun.

This happens to about 500 lions a year, so trophy hunters can send the heads and skins to a taxidermist and concoct a fake legend of the ‘hunt’.

Dogs are supposed to chase a trophy Tom. But last year, almost half of the lions shot were females. This means that thousands of dependent young people become orphans. Real hunters don’t leave the young orphaned, which is why we plan our seasons for the fall. The problem with feral cats is that they breed all year round.

Ending trophy hunting is not a radical experiment. California today reports a stable lion population that has occurred for the past five decades without any trophy hunting of the big cats. That state kills six times fewer lions due to depredation than Colorado, even with six times as many people and twice as many livestock.

Peer-reviewed research into lion behavior shows that trophy hunting creates social chaos among surviving lions and increases risk to livestock.

Trophy hunters steal the lions we need most: the most experienced and mature males and females. They ensure that CWD is gaining more and more of a foothold.

Any regular fighter is shooting themselves in the foot by opposing 127. We must protect the reputation of our sport, and we must protect the animals that make our ethical hunting of prey possible.

Deer and elk are in crisis. There is no cure, no vaccine for CWD infected animals. Luckily we have the lions. And the balance of nature.

Please vote yes on Prop 127 to preserve our deer and elk and the hunting we cherish.

Thomas Pool received his advanced degree in public health from Harvard University and his doctorate in veterinary medicine from Oklahoma State University. He has been a diplomat of the American College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine for 30 years. He spent 26 years in the U.S. Army, retiring as a colonel.

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