Mark Lewis writes that he doesn’t feel qualified to choose whether to protect mountain lions from trophy hunting and protect bobcats from fur trapping to sell their beautiful coats. He is qualified, and so are the voters of Colorado. Cats Aren’t Trophies, the group backing Proposition 91 on this year’s ballot, aligns the best ethical standards for ethical hunting.
The North American Model of Wildlife Conservation upholds fair chase, and abhors commercialization of wildlife. Harassing wildlife with dogs is illegal in Colorado , and yet, we allow dog packs to hunt lions, containing them up trees for shooting, and trappers to sell bobcat pelts to make luxury coats in China . Citizens can correct course as our legal and democratic responsibility.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife is neutral and the measure makes wildlife officers the professionals to use best practices to manage individual animals that may pose a risk to public safety. Colorado Parks and Wildlife can diligently enforce it, as wildlife officials did when voters banned baiting and hounding of bears in spring, to save cubs, and when we stopped using indiscriminate and cruel leghold traps. Colorado Parks and Wildlife is a public government agency, serving all Coloradans, and 40% of its budget comes from non-hunting programs.
Wildlife is not the private property of fringe predator hunters and fur trappers. Citizens in our great state have been voting on ballot issues since 1880, including on agriculture, alcohol, crim.