Photo: A mountain lion lounges in a cottonwood tree on Rooney Road, south of Golden. (Justin Shoemaker via USFWS)
This story by Lindsey Toomer appeared on Colorado Newsline on September 12, 2024.>
The organization behind a ballot initiative that would ban big cat hunting in Colorado announced a slew of endorsements from across the political spectrum Thursday.
Cats Aren’t Trophies is the group behind Proposition 127, which would outlaw trophy hunting and trapping of mountain lions, bobcats and lynx. Violating the ban would be classified as a misdemeanor and punishable by a five-year wildlife license suspension. Multiple offenses would result in a lifetime license revocation.
Republican former U.S. Representative Tom Tancredo, who represented Colorado’s 6th Congressional District for 10 years and ran for governor as a Constitution Party Candidate in 2010, joined Proposition 127’s list of supporters Thursday. He said in a statement that he will vote yes on the measure “to combat cruelty to animals.”
Tancredo added that he doesn’t like the idea of killing animals as trophies or to “take the fur and send it to China.” In 2002, he sponsored a measure included in the Farm Bill that banned interstate transport of fighting animals such as cocks.
“I far prefer that Colorado Parks and Wildlife handle wildlife management matters, but Coloradans have petitioned the Colorado Wildlife Commission and appealed to the General Assembly to enact these popular reforms and have been turned away,” Tancredo’s statement read. “The ballot initiative should be used very sparingly, but this to me is a proper application of this constitutional option given that other channels of decision-making have been exhausted.”
Former U.S. Senator Mark Udall, a Democrat from Boulder, also shared his support for the trophy hunting ban.
“This measure conserves our ecologically valuable apex feline predators, by protecting both lions and bobcats from commercial trophy hunting,” Udall said in a statement. “The sole purpose of such hunting is to sell the heads and fur of these remarkable and inspiring animals for selfish profit. There have been no legitimate reasons to continue the commercial killing of cats and lions for many decades. Now is the time to enshrine that undeniable truth into law.”
Cats Aren’t Trophies has also touted the endorsement of well-known names including actor Robert Redford, who attended the University of Colorado Boulder, and primatologist and zoologist Jane Goodall. The initiative submitted more than the 180,000 signatures needed to get onto the ballot to the secretary of state at the start of July.
“Preserving the natural balance of Colorado’s wilderness means respecting all its inhabitants,” Redford said in a statement. “Mountain lions and bobcats are vital to the ecosystem, and their lives should not be reduced to trophies or pelts. Banning trophy hunting and fur trapping is not just about protecting these magnificent creatures — it’s about safeguarding the integrity of our natural world for future generations.”
Colorado’s Wildlife Deserve Better is the registered organization opposing the measure, and hunting and trapping advocates including the Sportsmen’s Alliance also oppose it.