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Internal
Department Emails Raise Questions about Extent of Threat Posed
by Sabino Canyon Lions
March 26,
2004
Conservation groups from across the state call for reform
of Arizona Game and Fish Department management of mountain
lions. The recent mismanagement of the Sabino Canyon mountain
lion issue has shed the spotlight on long-standing problems
of public accountability, management, and lack of transparency
for both the Commission and Department that also need to be
reformed.
“The
Commission has ignored not only the public, but sound science
in favor of special interests, including the livestock industry,
in managing Arizona’s wildlife,” notes the Sierra
Club’s Sandy Bahr. “We are pleased that the governor
is pushing the Commission to be accountable and demonstrate
why the removal of the Sabino Canyon lions is necessary.”
The credibility
of the agency is once again called into question by its own
internal documents. Emails obtained recently by the Animal
Defense League of Arizona through the Arizona Public Records
Act demonstrate that Arizona Game & Fish Department personnel
did not believe the lions were a threat during the last month.
As late as
March 2, 2004, Tom Whetten with the Arizona Game and Fish
Department wrote of the situation, “Except for not yielding
to people once or twice, and being seen on numerous occasions
this is a non problem…”
The documents
leave the public to wonder what changed and why it took an
unprecedented public outcry before the agency would even consider
non-lethal measures. Measures we maintain create more risk
to humans and cougars than the department ever proved existed
to humans from the cats.
The conservation
community and the public continue to oppose removal of any
mountain lions from Sabino Canyon. The Arizona Game &
Fish Department and Coronado National Forest have not shown
that any of the lions pose a danger to the public, nor have
they explained the process through which the decision was
made or who made the decision.
There are
many long-term solutions that need to be looked at to prevent
this from happening in the future. Here are some good first
steps.
First, the
agency must improve research on this species. According to
Kim Crumbo, wilderness coordinator with the Grand Canyon Wildlands
Council, “more research to better understand Arizona
lion populations and lion behavior is needed, especially studies
of human/mountain lion interaction. Reform must also include
the protection of lion habitat and wildlife corridors in the
face of urban growth.”
“More
importantly, mountain lion management must protect the long-term
sustainability of the species,” notes Stephanie Nichols
Young, president of the Animal Defense League of Arizona.
“To this end hunting guidelines for the species must
rely on better population estimates, recognizing the animal’s
status as a keystone species and the important role it plays
in healthy natural systems.”
“Places
like Tucson must learn to live with species like the lion.
The Sabino Canyon lions are not a lion problem, but an opportunity
to educate people about how to live with lions,” notes
Craig Miller of Defenders of Wildlife.
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