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Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Raising Cougar Hunt Limits Strains Credulity

By D'Val Westphal
Of the Journal
          So far this year, fewer than 200 cougars have been killed in New Mexico — though 490 kills are allowed.
        Next year, the New Mexico Game and Fish Department wants to raise that kill limit to 996, and keep it above 900 every year through 2014.
        Talk about a solution in search of — make that on the hunt for — a problem.
        "The difference is nothing short of astonishing. People are not coming close to even killing the 490 that is currently allowed," Elisabeth Jennings, executive director of Animal Protection of New Mexico, points out. "Why raise the number allowed to be killed when they aren't even meeting the current figure?"
        Why indeed? Way back in 1999, Journal columnist Larry Calloway looked into an increase in the cougar kill limits. He found that "the New Mexico Game Commission spent more than $1 million on a 10-year scientific study of cougars that has been praised as the most extensive ever done on the species." The study showed cougars were not having an effect on the supposed prey of concern, desert bighorn sheep populations — they preferred to dine on mule deer, antelope, rabbits, coyotes, skunks, small rodents, birds and reptiles.
        No cattle — and rarely an endangered desert bighorn sheep. If you're wondering about attacks on humans, this summer Game and Fish Department director Tod Stevenson said mountain lion attacks are extremely rare. The agency promoted a "Cougar Smart" awareness program in conjunction with federal and state agencies and environmental and animal groups to keep those attacks at a minimum.
        That landmark study, peer-reviewed, published and paid for by the public, was done by the Hornocker Wildlife Institute. It involved 294 cougars over 795 square miles near White Sands Missile range. It also found the primary cause of cougar death was other territorial cougars.
        Ignoring the evidence that the cougar population is self-managing, the 1999 Game Commission authorized 20 kills in the Bootheel and seven each in the Manzano and Ladron mountains every year for the next five years.
        More than a decade later, officials want to jack the kill rate by 103 percent overall — 200 percent for female cougars.
        Jennings' group has joined forces with WildEarth Guardians and the Sierra Club to oppose the increase. APNM's website points out "with a heavy toll on female cougars, many cougar kittens will be left orphaned and the overall population will become destabilized."
        Calloway's reporting said a cougar head count is as elusive as the animals. Most reliable estimates are based on suitable habitat. Jennings says "the population assumptions that are in place right now and were first published in October 2008: 2,041-3,043."
        So under the proposed limits we could, in theory, wipe out the species in two-plus years.
        Meanwhile, Game and Fish has said it wants to increase cougar hunting opportunities and address complaints of cougars preying on other wildlife such as desert bighorn sheep.
        Did anyone at Game and Fish check the current kill limit or read the report it had taxpayers shell out $1 million for? Or is it that, as the department's wildlife management chief says, hunting is what pays Game and Fish bills so "it behooves the department to increase hunting opportunity whenever we can"?
        Jennings says the department is "using unreliable data to justify their enormous increase in recommended total sustained mortality for cougars. ... We are appealing to them to take a more tempered approach and keep the cougar mortality limits where they are today. That's not a lot to ask. Unfortunately, it is a hard pill for the commission to swallow to essentially reject the work of their paid biologists. But the fact is, if those biologists are biased and their recommendations represent an extreme position, it should be challenged by the public and the body to whom they look for policy decisions."
        Hoping to kill 996 cougars next year when fewer than 200 have been tracked down this year seems more than a little extreme.
        The three advocacy groups are asking the Game Commission to keep the 2008 kill limit of 490, continue the biennial review process, protect breeding females and their dependent kittens, make the online hunter education program mandatory and reject increased quotas on females.
        A Game Commission vote on raising the cougar kill limit is Thursday in Ruidoso.
        Officials should vote to raise awareness of reliable science — and maybe good old-fashioned reason — instead.
        road@abqjournal.com