Education sought for mountain lion hunters

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Conservationists are pushing for hunters to be educated about mountain lions before hunting the big cats in New Mexico, and they hope other Western states will take notice.

The New Mexico Game Commission is considering changes to its big game hunting rules, and WildEarth Guardians and Animal Protection of New Mexico want commissioners to require hunters to take a mountain lion education and identification course before heading into the woods.

The idea is to teach hunters the difference between male and female cats to ensure that more breeding females are left in the wild and kittens are not orphaned.

New Mexico would be only the second state to have such a program. Colorado started its online cougar education and testing program last year.

Wendy Keefover-Ring, director of carnivore protection for WildEarth Guardians, worked with the Colorado Division of Wildlife, sportsmen's groups and other conservationists for about six years to get the program started in Colorado.

"That's my goal, is to get it in New Mexico and some other surrounding states. It's hugely important," she said. "It's so key to conserving the species, protecting the breeding females and their dependent kittens."

While the exact number of mountain lions in New Mexico is not known, estimates hover around 2,500.

Game and Fish Department officials said during a commission meeting Thursday that the state's cougar levels are healthy, as is the female harvest level.

But WildEarth Guardians and Animal Protection of New Mexico think too many females are being killed. They note that since 1999 more than two-fifths of all cougars killed in the state have been females, with a record high of 51 percent in 2007.

In Colorado, officials said the education program is too new to have any concrete numbers on how it might be affecting the cougar hunt.

Any changes to New Mexico's cougar hunt will be up to the Game Commission. Its next meeting is Oct. 2.