Why Colorado bobcats, mountain lions need protection

Photo byEddie BlackonUnsplash

Colorado mountain lions and bobcats, which November voters will have the opportunity to save from trophy hunters, are sparing the ecosystem devastation from chronic wasting disease.

Chronic wasting diseases affects deer and elk. Animals that come down with the illness die in about three years, according to scientists who spoke during a webinar this week sponsored by Cats Aren’t Trophies, or CATs.

A new report by veterinarian and infectious disease expert Jim Keen titled, “Big Cats as Nature’s Check Against Disease” shows how mountain lions "preferentially prey on sick deer and elk, reducing the incidence of chronic wasting disease. The report draws from field work that demonstrates the steady mountain lion predation on their primary prey has the cumulative effect of cleansing deer and elk herds of this incurable brain-wasting disease that was first detected in Colorado in the late 1960s."

Photo byJeff MeigsonUnsplash

November ballot measure

"CATs is a ballot measure driven by Colorado citizens for voters in November to vote 'yes' to protect mountain lions, bobcats and lynx of Colorado from ruthless trophy hunting for heads and trapping for fur, while maintaining professional management by Colorado Parks and Wildlife for individual cats that pose a risk to humans and domestic animals, including livestock and pets," according to a news release. "Colorado Parks and Wildlife has stated its neutrality on the measure, explaining that the agency 'will diligently implement all laws passed by the legislature and the Governor or by the voters.'"

U.S. spends $1 million on wasting problem

Keen said the federal government has spent a billion dollars trying to stop wasting disease, making no progress. “With no vaccine or cure for Chronic Wasting disease, wildlife managers are searching for solutions,” he notes in the news release. “The best solution in the current toolkit is to allow lions, as natural apex predators most adept at selectively killing sick, injured and diseased traditional prey, to exert their influence for healthy deer and elk. It’s a free service and, over the coming decades, could annually save the state hundreds of millions in economic activity by cleansing populations of chronic wasting disease and acting as a bulwark against further spread of chronic wasting disease.”

According to the news release, the wasting disease has no cure and "has been judged by scientists and some major hunting organizations as a long-term threat to the health of deer and elk populations in Colorado, thereby threatening the future of the most economically and culturally significant forms of hunting, which is for deer and elk, especially for rural Colorado."

'High-tech hounding of mountain lions'

In the meantime, the news release explains, "High-tech hounding of mountain lions, resulting in annual kills of on average 500 lions, disrupts hunting behavior by lions that selectively target sick and infected deer and elk, and interrupts and diminishes the cleansing effect of predation by lions. The hallmark of trophy hunting is to kill a large, mature male lion, and it is these animals who are most adept at killing CWD-infected deer and elk."

Animal advocate Wayne Pacelle said during the webinar that most American retailers no longer sell furs. The pelts of the slaughtered cats end up abroad, where "Chinese elites ostentatiously display a beautiful animal's coat."

Mapping shows higher incidences of wasting disease in deer and elk where lions are absent, according to the news release, and lower rates of wasting disease where the predators occupy habitats.