ST. GEORGE — Earlier this year, Utah legalized year-round, permitless cougar hunting and trapping — a move conservationists worry could have widespread negative impacts. Now, two nonprofits say they’re standing up for the state’s mountain lions.
“It’s just bad for Utah,” R. Brent Lyles, executive director of the Mountain Lion Foundation, told St. George News.
The foundation has been following Utah’s puma policies for some time due to concerns that hunting quotas were too high, Lyles said. But when 2023’s HB 469 became law, “it really just pulled the rug out from under the whole situation.”
The bill addressed various issues concerning hunting, fishing and habitat and initially made no changes regarding mountain lions. Sen. Scott D. Sandall introduced language late in the session, citing increased lion populations — a claim the foundation contests.
The law was passed in both state houses with little discussion, and Gov. Spencer Cox signed it into law on March 17 amid outcry from various groups and individuals. It went into effect on May 3, St. George News reported.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if there were legislators who didn’t even know that was there when they were voting on it,” Lyles said.
Previously, cougar pursuit — tracking or killing cougars, usually with hounds — was typically limited from November to the end of May in most areas in the state. And trapping them was illegal.
The revised law removed permit requirements, allowed for year-round cougar hunting for those with the required license, eliminated the two-cat bag limit, and legalized lion trapping, including with snares.
This change prompted the foundation and Western Wildlife Conservancy to file the lawsuit on Thursday, claiming the law is harmful and unconstitutional in Utah. The Utah Department of Natural Resources and its executive director Joel Ferry, the Utah DWR and the Utah Wildlife Board were named as respondents.
“With this hastily written and ill-conceived law in place, it opens up the door for every mountain lion in Utah to be killed,” Lyles said in the release. “Given how critical these cats are to Utah’s food webs and wild lands, the law puts Utah’s natural beauty, wildlife and resources at risk. Understandably, our Utah members and supporters were shocked — someone had to stand up for Utah and its mountain lions.”
Lyles said they’re representing distraught Utahns who contacted the foundation about the law.
“We were just getting phone calls from people in tears, and just watching this unfold was incredibly heartbreaking,” he said.
DWR Spokesperson Faith Jolley shared this statement regarding the lawsuit with St. George News via email:
“When HB0469 went into effect May 3, our division worked to update our regulations and management to be in accordance with this new law. Cougars are still classified as protected wildlife in Utah and require a hunting or combination license to hunt. Any harvested cougars are required to be checked in to a DWR office or to a DWR employee within 48 hours of harvest.
“Our biologists are monitoring harvest rates under the new regulations to determine the effects of this new hunting strategy,” she continued. “If it is determined that additional regulations are needed, those recommendations would be proposed and would be open to public comment. Due to ongoing litigation, we will not be able to provide additional information.”
Unconstitutional?
Article 1, Section 30 of the state’s constitution protects Utahns’ right to hunt and fish “as a valuable part of the State’s heritage” to preserve the institution for the public good.
The right is subject only to statutes, rules and regulations to promote wildlife conservation and management, reasonably regulate hunting and fishing activities and preserve the future of these activities. The section does not affect “the State’s sovereign authority over the State’s natural resources,” among other exceptions.
Jessica L. Blome, with Greenfire Law, explained in the release that the provision has never before been the subject of litigation.
“But the plain language is clear: preservation, regulation and conservation are intrinsically intertwined with the right to hunt,” she said. “Thus, it would be antithetical to both the spirit and letter of the Utah Constitution for the legislature to mandate that mountain lions be whittled down to the point where the species could no longer be preserved ‘for the public good.’”
Managing Utah’s lions
The foundation writes that the law “also severely reduces state officials’ ability to prevent these ecologically critical animals from being hunted to extinction in Utah.”
Cougars, as a keystone species, play a critical role in the ecosystems they inhabit and interact more with other species than other studied carnivores. The foundation states that their removal would “not only harm their prey populations, but also negatively impact insects, birds, plants, and even fish.”
The wide-ranging species is found across North America, from Canada to Chile, according to the nonprofits’ complaint.
“Solitary cats, mountain lions are highly adaptable to situations and environments, and this adaptability has enabled them to survive across much of their original range in the Americas, despite severe habitat loss and active threats,” the plaintiffs write.
Still, Pumas’ longitudinal range from east to west has shrunk considerably.
“Mountain lions used to be found throughout the United States, but due to bounty hunts in the early 1900s and threats such as persecution, trophy hunting, poaching, retaliation in response to livestock depredation, kitten orphaning, poisoning and habitat loss and fragmentation, mountain lions are now only found in 15 western states, and the genetically isolated Florida panther remains in the East,” according to the complaint.
Overhunting could increase human-puma conflict due to hunters favoring larger cats, increasing the number of young cats, who are more likely to prey on livestock or become involved in other conflicts, the foundation writes.
Additionally, the foundation states that most other Western states have ended year-round hunting and outlawed trapping as the practices are “cruel and disruptive” to the animals. Hunting seasons are set around “safe windows” to protect cubs still dependent on their mothers, reducing the number of orphaned kittens.
“Utah’s law will inevitably orphan far more cubs throughout Utah, and the survival rate of orphaned cubs can be as low as 4%,” the foundation writes.
“Lacking any other existing regulations regarding mountain lion trapping, cougars in Utah could be left in traps for days, slowly starving, and suffering severe injuries as they attempt to escape,” the nonprofit continues. “There is also a risk that free-ranging livestock and people’s pets could be caught in the traps as well.”
While many restrictions have been removed, others remain in place. For instance, those trapping cougars must follow the rules outlined in the Utah Division of Wildlife Resource’s Furbearer Guidebook and have a valid hunting or combination license and a valid trap registration license.
Trappers must check trapping devices used to take cougars, coyotes, raccoons and furbearers — mammals hunted or trapped primarily for their fur — at least once every 48 or 96 hours, depending on the trap type, according to the Furbearers Guidebook.
Live animals must be euthanized or removed within the 48-hour check period or immediately released unharmed, the guidebook states. Cougars cannot be pursued with dogs for 48 hours after release.
According to the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, it is illegal to pursue or kill kittens, females with kittens or cougars wearing GPS collars on specific hunting units where research is being conducted. Additionally, some hunting units could be closed to hunting with hounds during the spring black bear hunt.
Lyles said using the best available science is critical when managing the West’s cougar populations.
“And this decision by Utah throws all of that science out the window,” he said. “This law is not based on science. This law is based on misconceptions and fears.”
Footage included in the video at the top of the article is courtesy of Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, National Park Service and others.
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