Colorado Animal Advocacy

10/26/2024

Vote Yes on Proposition 127! National and international special interest groups are on a misinformation campaign to mislead Coloradans so they can continue profiting by killing our native wild cats.

'False Claim 2: Trophy hunting is already banned in Colorado.

Fact: There is no statute or regulation in the state that says anything about banning trophy hunting. Trophy hunting is perfectly legal in Colorado, and there is a tiny segment of the larger hunting community obsessed with obtaining a nose-to-tail trophy of a lion. Most of the successful trophy hunters shell out $8,000 to a hunting guide, who maintains the dog packs, drones, and GPS equipment, and sets up a point-blank shot at a lion clinging to a tree branch.

Trophy hunting of lions — in Africa and in the Americas — has been going on since the 19th century. Lion hunting is now banned in the vast majority of South American countries, and it’s tougher for Americans to hunt African and Asiatic lions overseas because the species are classed as threatened or endangered across their ranges. That means that a major reservoir of potential cat trophies exists in North America, and there are trophy hunting vendors who caters to this subculture and deliver the point-blank shot and then the trophy for mounting and display. Indeed, it’s not hard to find promotions of “trophy hunting” by the network of professional hunting guides who offer “guaranteed kills” of trophy “toms” to their fee-paying clients. The term “trophy” is ubiquitous among the non-purged sites whose owners charge wealthy hunters $8,000 or more to kill a lion in Colorado.

On the internet, and specifically on the websites of hunting guides, it’s plain as day that the purpose of the hunt is to secure a trophy: “We start our days very early driving roads looking for mountain lion tracks,” according to one guide on BookYourHunt. “Once we have a track located, we release hounds and catch your cat. Using GPS technology we track the hounds and precisely locate where they treed your trophy. We then determine the easiest route to take you into your trophy.” A different guide says cost depends on “the outfitter’s reputation for producing quality trophies.” The animal welfare community didn’t invent the notion of “trophy hunting.” The trophy hunters coined it, and today’s trophy hunters are part of that tradition of wildlife exploitation. We draw the phrase directly from their literature, their promotional materials, and the celebrations.' - Center for a Humane Economy

10/25/2024

Vote Yes on Proposition 127! National and international special interest groups are on a misinformation campaign to mislead Coloradans so they can continue recklessly killing our native wild cats.

‘False Claim 1: Packs of dogs are needed to allow for s*x selection of male lions, so they don’t shoot the females.

Fact: If it’s their game plan to reduce the number of females killed by eyeing the cat cornered in a tree, I can assure you it’s not working. During the 2023-24 lion-hunting season, 47% of the 501 lions shot by trophy hunters were females. Many of the females shot from a tree had dependent young tucked away in a den or roaming on their own. The shooting of those females dooms the family group. Lions can breed at any time of the year, so there is no safe season for avoiding orphaning. Dogs are not allowed for any other so-called big game — not for deer, elk, or bears. Just for lions and bobcats.’ – Center for a Humane Economy

10/24/2024

Vote Yes on Proposition 127! Get special interest trophy hunting groups out of CO.

'As is typical in so many ballot issue campaigns, big-money opposition seeks to confuse voters and prompt them to opt for the status quo. The biggest funder of the “No on 127” campaign is a Virginia-based Concord Fund, which focuses on federal judicial appointments and has no professional staff with any conservation or wildlife experience. The second biggest funder is Safari Club International, which has an elaborate awards program for its members who amass trophies of dead wildlife. Its best-known award is the “Africa Big Five,” requiring the shooting of an African lion, a leopard, an African elephant, a rhino, and a Cape Buffalo. A lesser-known prize is “Cats of the World,” and North American mountain lions and Canada lynx qualify as trophies for that awards category.'- Center for a Humane Economy

10/23/2024

Vote Yes on Proposition 127! Animal welfare advocates and conservationists support ending unnecessary and ruthless practices of trophy hunting and commercial fur trapping of mountain lions and bobcats in Colorado. The very small segment of 2,000 trophy hunters and 700 fur trappers, who are from mostly out of state, kills as many as 2,500 bobcats and mountain lions for their heads, hides, and coats each year through by rigging the hunt with packs of dogs, bait, cage traps, high-tech gadgetry, and even drones.

10/22/2024

Vote YES on Proposition 127! Ballots have been delivered to 4.5 million Coloradans. We need your help encouraging everyone to vote YES on this proposition. Passing this initiative will send a strong message that Coloradans expect our keystone species to be protected. Thousands of bobcats and mountain lions need you to vote for the ethical treatment of our native wildlife.

10/21/2024

The Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission is the governing body that sets Colorado State wildlife policy on wildlife. Three members of the commission, Murphy, Beaulieu, and Reading, and the former commission chair, Pribyl, voiced their support for Proposition 127. They also shared that trophy hunting of mountain lions and bobcats is unethical and unneeded for any legitimate management purpose.

“Proposition 127 bans chasing mountain lions with dogs, in which the ‘hunter’ follows the GPS signal from the dogs’ collars to a treed lion, walks up and shoots the animal. That is not hunting, and something we would never allow with ungulates. Similarly, bobcats are trapped not for personal use, but for the sale of their fur for sale to buyers from outside the U.S. — the very definition of commodification. Opponents of Proposition 127 argue that we must allow our agency to professionally and scientifically manage wildlife. Nothing in Proposition 127 prevents the agency from doing that, it simply sets the ground rules by which the agency operates. We already do that. We do not permit use of night lights and baiting, for example. Yes, we may have to change some management, but our professionals at CPW are up to the task," wrote Parks and Wildlife Commission Vice Chair Richard Reading, PhD, a wildlife biologist.

10/20/2024

"In recent days, three members of the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission, along with a former chairman of that body, called out trophy hunting of mountain lions and bobcats as unethical and also as unneeded for any legitimate management purpose.

'Proposition 127 bans chasing mountain lions with dogs, in which the ‘hunter’ follows the GPS signal from the dogs’ collars to a treed lion, walks up and shoots the animal. That is not hunting, and something we would never allow with ungulates,' wrote Parks and Wildlife Commission Vice Chair Richard Reading, PhD, a wildlife biologist, in his letter published Sunday in the Ark Valley Voice. 'Similarly, bobcats are trapped not for personal use, but for the sale of their fur for sale to buyers from outside the U.S. — the very definition of commodification.' The CPW Commission is the governing body that sets policy on wildlife for all citizens across the great state of Colorado.

“Prop 127 allows voters to recognize not all hunting is defensible, and these are indefensible state-sanctioned acts of cruelty,” explained James Pribyl, Jack Murphy, and Jessica Beaulieu in their opinion piece in the Grand Junction Sentinel Sunday.
Murphy, Beaulieu, and Reading are three current members of the CPW Commission, while Pribyl is the former chair. The commissioners were appointed to the commission by two former governors.

'Opponents of Proposition 127 argue that we must allow our agency to professionally and scientifically manage wildlife. Nothing in Proposition 127 prevents the agency from doing that, it simply sets the ground rules by which the agency operates. We already do that. We do not permit use of night lights and baiting, for example. Yes, we may have to change some management, but our professionals at CPW are up to the task,' Reading says.

“Prop 127 is based on not a little, but more than a half-century of the best science as evidence for commissioners to confidently tell the voters that lion populations will stabilize, not increase, without hunting. In California without lion hunting, populations are stable, not increasing, and at the same level as they are here in Colorado,” multiple Commissioners report.

The YES on 127 recommendations from these current and former leaders of the Wildlife Commission come in the wake of the opponents of the ballot measure concocting bald-faced lies about the ballot measure. They are trying to tell people that trophy hunting is banned in Colorado! But it’s precisely because trophy hunting of lions and bobcats is happening on such a significant scale that we launched Prop 127 in the first place!

Every day between now and November 5th, tens of thousands of Colorado voters will cast their ballots. There is no time to waste in urging your friends, neighbors, and others to vote YES on 127." - Cats Are not Trophies

10/20/2024

Ditch lead ammunition! Lead can be deadly when ingested. Scientists have deemed lead ammunition to be the greatest unregulated source of lead knowingly released into the environment in the U.S.

Lead poisoning can induce lethargy, blindness, paralysis of the lungs and intestinal tract, organ failure, seizures, and death in wild animals. Lead kills millions of wild animals a year. It's the leading cause of death for California condors, and kills countless eagles, hawks, owls, and vultures.

Some threats facing animals can seem so gargantuan as to be just part of the status quo—but we are determined to change the systemic injustices that harm countless animals. In addition to fighting cruel trophy hunting practices that cause egregious suffering for target animals, we’ve been pushin...

10/19/2024

Our native wild cats, including lynx, bobcats, and mountain lions deserve protection from out-of-state trophy hunting and fur trapping to sell pelts overseas. Let's vote for our native wildlife this election!

10/19/2024

See how your legislator voted for animal welfare 🐈‍⬛🐕‍🦺

 Senate  House  Download PDF  Scorecard Key SP Prime Sponsor Took pro-animal position through co-sponsorship of a bill, a vote, signing a letter, or leading on pro-animal issue Led on multiple legislative and/or regulatory efforts or led on a top priority issue counted in this scorecard Took ant...

10/18/2024

$20,000 Leave No Trace grants are available - research proposals must be received by October 31st.

Leave No Trace announces that $20,000 in research grants is now available.

10/18/2024

FIP is no longer a death sentence for American cats.

Download this article's key takeaways.From the time Heather Schrader adopted Barnabus as a kitten, he’d been healthy, playful and a voracious eater. But just shy of his third birthday, the sleek black shorthair with one golden eye started losing weight and his appetite.