Lions cannot kill Bighorn Sheep just Mule Deer
The following quote demonstrates to me that the USFWS is more anti-sportsman than pro and is an agency with far too much power over state wildlife agencies. State wildlife agencies have their issues as well, but provided that a state agency wishes to serve the sportsmen that fund them, they must still cope with the USFWS.
We need to stop lions from killing mule deer as much as we need to stop them from killing big horn sheep. At present lions are killing over ten times as many mule deer as hunters are annually.
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On Friday, TOMORROW, August 7 the Arizona Game & Fish Commission will consider extending the Kofa lion removal moratorium which ended July 31. It is critical to the survival of the Kofa herd that the moratorium NOT BE EXTENDED.
According to information provided by the Az. Game & Fish Department (AZGFD) the Kofa desert bighorn sheep population declined from 800 sheep in 2000 to 390 sheep in 2006. Predation by mountain lions was found to be one of the causal factors in the decline.
Based upon that report the AZGFD developed a variety of action plans to address the identified issues, including a mountain lion predation management plan. As part of the predation management plan, two mountain lions that were trapped on the refuge were lethally removed and the USFWS was immediately challenged for allowing these activities to occur prior to completion of an Environmental Analysis (EA).
At the request of USFWS, the Department agreed to a one year Moratorium on lethal removal of lions captured on the refuge.
On April 23, 2008, the USFWS released a scoping letter to gather input prior to completing the EA.
In 2008, at the request of Arizona Sportsmen for Wildlife, the Arizona Legislature sent a House Concurrent Memorial to Congress on this very issue. The Legislature asked Congress to “take immediate action to reaffirm the Arizona Game & Fish Department’s position as the leading agency in the management of non-migratory and non-endangered state wildlife” and that the AZGFD be allowed to “employ, without any unnecessary delays, burdens or obstacles, all management tools and measures necessary to recover the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge desert bighorn sheep population, including the management of predators, water developments, human intervention and the potential for disease epizootics. To date, no action has been taken by Congress and USFWS has done nothing to facilitate or otherwise allow AZGFD to manage its wildlife in the Kofa.
On April 18, 2009 the USFWS requested an additional extension of the Moratorium indicating they needed more time to complete the EA. The Commission extended the Moratorium for 90 days and that moratorium ended on July 31, 2009.
Today, while the USFWS has printed its findings from the EA in the Federal Register, it is highly unlikely that a final decision will be made before March 2010 and mountain lions will continue to kill sheep on the Kofa. At last report one of the offending lions known as KMO4 has killed 14 sheep, averaging one sheep every ten days. And KMO4 is not the only offending lion on the Kofa. The Department’s Timeline shows that sheep have been taken by more than one other offending lion on the Kofa.
According to an article in the Arizona Republic, Representative Daniel Patterson (D-Dist 29, Tucson) does not want the AZGFD to shoot lions until the federal government finishes an environmental study on the issue early next year as requested by USFWS. AZSFW does not agree with Representative Patterson as the facts of offending lion, KMO4, speak for themselves.
Rep. Patterson was formerly affiliated with the Southwest Center for Biological Diversity and is reported to be the Ecologist and Southwest Director for Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility since 2006.
It is time for the Commission to say “No More Time” and direct the Department to lethally remove the offending lion as soon as possible. It is the responsible thing to do.
Please call or write members of the Commission and ask them to support AZSFW’s request to lethally remove the offending lion and tell USFWS no more moratoriums. The Kofa desert bighorn sheep herd can no longer afford to be held hostage to bureaucratic inefficiencies.
Pete Cimellaro
AZSFW Board Member
Amazing how the AZ game dept, cant seem to figure out the MT lion use to be a predator now it is a big game animal, now the coyotes have a free ride, when the coyote use to be poisoned, and trapped, now the trapping is out.
It doesnt take a college education to figure out the deer doesnt stand a chance to ever come back with so many predators.
They will blame it on water and rain, I would say ok to that, but what about along the rivers in AZ where there is plenty of water and food for the deer, and they still have a hard time to survive.