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Friday, October 3, 2008
N.M. Game Commission Endorses Historic Cougar-Hunting Regulation Changes

Reforms Protect Cougar Families and End Cougar-Snaring Program
Contact: WildEarth Guardians

ALAMOGORDO, N.M. – Yesterday, after emotional debate, the New Mexico Game Commission adopted historically significant reforms concerning cougar management. Two key provisions include better protections for females and their dependent kittens, and an end to a controversial million dollar cougar-snaring program in the Guadalupe Mountains.

“New Mexicans and the Game Commission understand that cougars are icons of majesty and wildness,” said Wendy Keefover-Ring of WildEarth Guardians. “These hunting reforms not only enhance conservation of the species, but reduce the ethical dilemma associated with orphaned cougar kittens.”

As part of the reforms, New Mexico adopted a voluntary program that asks hunters not to kill female cougars. A cougar-sex identification course will come online in mid-October-making New Mexico the second state, following Colorado, to adopt this program. The hunter education course will help to ensure that breeding females-the species’ biological bank account-are conserved. It also prevents the orphaning of dependent kittens, who without their mothers for protection and guidance, are unable to survive.

New Mexico now also limits the mortality of female cougars at a 10% benchmark in each hunting zone. Once this percentage is reached, hunting stops.

Another part of the reform is to end the cougar-snaring program that has occurred in the Guadalupe Mountains since the mid-1980s. Historically, the state has paid a trapper to kill 20 cougars per year at a cost close to one million dollars to “prevent” the prospect that sheep might be killed by them. Additionally, the trapper was allowed to keep the cougar hides for personal profit.

Meanwhile, records from the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management show that sheep production has declined by 71% in just a handful of years in that zone due to global economics, calling into question the reason for such a program.

“It was necessary to shut down the cougar-snaring program, with its no-bid contracts, lack of accountability and unprecedented opportunity for personal gain. We applaud the Commission for taking the correct action,” said Keefover-Ring.