Mountain Lion Population Has Become Out of Control in Colorado

Dear Editor:

Proposition 127 is an attempt to disrupt the balance of our ecosystems and undermine the systems in place to keep our wildlife populations healthy.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) was charged with managing big cats in Colorado in 1965, when there were only a few hundred left in the state. Since then, the population of lions has grown to roughly 4,000 lions and bobcats continue to thrive. Lynx are federally protected and are estimated at around 200 across the state. When managing Colorado’s wildlife, CPW must sustain balance in the entire ecosystem, not just a single species. Through careful data collection and highly regulated hunting, CPW boasts a thriving population of lions, and bobcats, the largest elk herd in the nation, a healthy population of bears, and a growing moose population.

Altering the management of one species will affect others in the ecosystem, and just like Jenga, the whole structure will come tumbling down when the balance is disrupted. Concerns about the health of lion populations is not supported by CPW’s data, so proponents of Prop 127 have resorted to misleading claims, such as calling all hunting “trophy hunting”, or stating that hunting has no benefit to the ecosystem.

Preventing the legal hunting of lions won’t erase our effects on the ecosystem or create cat utopia. With Colorado’s growing population of 5.8 million people, our impact on wildlife habitat cannot be overemphasized. Expanding urban footprints create imbalances that require careful management to maintain a balance in the ecosystem. Voting “Yes” will only remove a critical tool that CPW has used with proven success to steward our thriving wildlife population and ensure a healthy ecosystem.

Let’s leave wildlife management to the biologists that have been doing it successfully for over a hundred years. Vote NO on Prop 127.

Kellan Johnson