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AGFD
Proposal Doesn't Go Far Enough to Protect
Female Mountain Lions and Dependent Kittens
TAKE ACTION! Please
attend the April 17 Game & Fish Commission meeting in
Phoenix, if you can. The meeting will begin at 8 a.m. at the
Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #2, 12851 N. 19th Ave. You
don't have to stay for the whole meeting or speak in front
of the room. You can fill out a blue comment card to voice
your opinion. Written comments supporting protection for Arizona's
lions can also be made by e-mail to azgamebranch@gf.state.az.us,
by fax to (602) 789-3929 or by mail to Ms. Tice Supplee, AGFD
Game Branch Chief, 2221 W. Greenway Road, Phoenix, AZ 85023.
For a map to the meeting location, click
here.
April 8,
2004
The Arizona Game & Fish Commission will consider hunt
orders, including guidelines for mountain lions, at its April
17 meeting in Phoenix. Unfortunately, Arizona Game & Fish
Department (AGFD) staff continues to recommend lion hunting
plans that are not based on science and that will result in
annual kills of lions in excess of the quota set in the commission's
current strategic plan. We need you to express your dissatisfaction
with this proposal.
AGFD and
the commission have not used sound science in setting management
policies for Arizona's mountain lions. They never have had
accurate lion population estimates, yet they continue to allow
more than 300 lions to be killed each year without knowing
if Arizona has a sustainable lion population. During the past
several years, the commission has further liberalized its
lion hunting policies to "increase pressure" on
mountain lions. Such policies have permitted:
-- A
year-round lion hunting season
--An escalation in the number of lions killed despite a lack
of lion population data
--The killing of any lion, including females with dependent
kittens/cubs and even the young lions themselves
--The continued killing of lions above and beyond so-called
"harvest objectives"
--Lion hunting to continue for up to 16 days after the "harvest
objective" has been reached in some game management units
(GMU)
--The use of hounds to hunt lions.
Although
this year's recommendations make a step in the right direction
by changing the definition of lions that may be hunted from
"any lion" to "any lion except spotted kittens
and females accompanied by spotted kittens," it's time
for the commission to make more meaningful changes. It's time
that Arizona's lions receive the protection that they deserve.
Your comments are essential to convince the department and
commission to protect your lions. In order to make real protection
for females and kittens:
1) Replace
the year-round lion hunting season with a 5-month season (November
through March). Since the AGFD's own kill statistics indicate
that more than 71 percent of lions are killed by hunters between
November and March, this change will not substantially reduce
hunter opportunities but will modernize lion management practices
while protecting lions, including females with dependent young,
with protection from hunters for seven months each year.
2) Establish
meaningful and conservative "hunt objectives" and
female lion hunt subquotas for all GMUs. To be meaningful,
the GMU must be closed within 24 hours of the hunt objective
or female hunt subquota being met. Unless the commission is
willing to prohibit all hunting of female lions, meaningful
and conservative female hunt subquotas are the only way of
minimizing the number of females with dependent young killed,
thereby reducing the suffering and death of orphaned lion
kittens. The AGFD's current proposal to prohibit the hunting
of "spotted kittens or females accompanied by spotted
kittens" does not go far enough since, as indicated by
the scientific evidence, dependent young are rarely seen with
their mothers, particularly when she is being chased by hounds,
preventing any hunter from knowing, with certainty, that he/she
is not killing a lion with dependent young.
3) Require
the physical check by AGFD biologists of all killed lions
to gather more accurate scientific data to use to aid management
efforts. The current proposal to ask hunters to voluntarily
submit a tooth for analysis is not good enough.
Please ask
your friends, family members, colleagues, and others to help
you help Arizona's lions by getting involved and submitting
their own letters to the AGFD. Remember, Arizona's wildlife
belongs to everyone, not just the ranchers and hunters, and
we need everyone to demand protection -- not continued persecution
-- of Arizona's lions.
The full
hunt orders as proposed by the AGFD can be viewed at http://www.azgfd.org/h_f/hunt_guidelines.html.
For more information about mountain lions in Arizona, check
out ADLA's web page at http://lions.adlaz.org.
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