The Arizona Fish and Wildlife Service (AZ FWS) is gearing up to kill
dozens of mountain lions near Saguaro, Apache, and Canyon Lakes on the
Tonto National Forest. The AZ FWS plans to justify its killing plan by
calling it part of a study to “assess the impact of lion predation on
bighorn sheep.” In blaming mountain lions for the decline in bighorn
sheep numbers (leaving the hunters with less animals to kill), the AZ FWS
completely ignores the fact that drought and disease (introduced by
domestic sheep) have had a far greater impact on bighorn sheep populations
than mountain lions have. Furthermore, because the AZ FWS’ proposed
“experiment” has confounding variables and lacks a control group, any data
obtained will be impossible to interpret.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
The AZ FWS must get approval from the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS)
before it can begin its killing plan. Please contact US FWS and ask them
to terminate AZ FWS’ mountain lion killing plan based on its lack of
scientific merit. Barring that, ask that they, at the very least, require
that the AZ FWS prepare an “Environmental Impact Statement” (EIS) on its
plans to kill the mountain lions.
Contact:
Ms. Nancy Kaufman, Regional Director
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Region 2 Southwest Regional Office
P.O. Box 1306
Albuquerque, NM 87103-1306
phone: (505) 248-6282
fax: (505) 248-6910
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