A mountain lion in Colorado. (Special to The Denver Post)
Outfitter and hunting guide Christopher Loncarich of Mack and his assistant guide, Nicholaus Rodgers of Medford, Ore., are accused of trapping the cats in cages before hunts and releasing them once their clients were nearby. The hunts took place in the Book Cliffs mountain range along the Colorado-Utah border.
Loncarich, Rodgers and other guides would sometimes shoot the cats in the paws or legs or put leg-hold snares on them , according to a Justice Department news release. Loncarich and Rodgers would then transport the dead animals from Utah back to Colorado and provide false records to obtain Colorado state-inspection seals for the hides, the release said.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife requires every harvested lion to be presented to its office for inspection within five days to manage wildlife populations. According to wildlife officials, 467 lions and 1,850 bobcats were killed last season.
It wasn't immediately clear how many animals Loncarich and Rodgers were accused of illegal killing.
The 17-count indictment, based on the pair's activities between 2007 and 2010, includes charges of felony transportation of unlawfully taken wildlife, creation of false records and conspiracy to violate the Lacey Act, which protects wildlife. In March 2012, federal wildlife agents searched Loncarich's home in connection to similar charges brought against another guide, Marvin Ellis. To date, four assistant guides have pleaded guilty to conspiracy offenses.
The indictment also alleges Loncarich and Rodgers knowingly allowed clients to hunt in Utah without proper licenses.
Mountain lion and bobcat hunting season stretches from November to March, when snow is likely to be on the ground and when the pursuit can be labor-intensive for hunters.
source
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sen. Ernie Chambers
Ernie Chambers introduces bill to end mountain lion hunting
LINCOLN — Sen. Ernie Chambers will work to repeal a different sort of death penalty this year in the Nebraska Legislature.
The Omaha senator introduced a bill Wednesday to end a new hunting season for mountain lions in Nebraska. He even said he will prioritize his mountain lion bill rather than one carried over from last year to repeal capital punishment.
It’s a measure of just how much Chambers despises cougar hunting, and a calculation that death penalty repeal is unlikely to advance in a 60-day session.
“These are not hunters,” Chambers said. “This is butchery. It’s slaughter.”
State officials said they established the season this year to maintain or slightly decrease a small, breeding population of the big cats in the Pine Ridge of northwest Nebraska.
Sen. Al Davis of Hyannis, whose district includes a portion of the Pine Ridge, said about 90 percent of his constituents support the hunting season. And so does he.
“I think if Sen. Chambers lived with them in his backyard, he might feel differently,” Davis said. “We’re not eradicating them, we’re hunting them.”
Mountain lions were once eradicated from Nebraska, but migrating cats from surrounding states began showing up in the 1990s. Wildlife biologists have documented about 22 resident cougars in the Pine Ridge.
In 2012, lawmakers passed a bill giving the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission the authority to set a season.
“Part of what we’re trying to do is manage this balance between mountain lion populations and social acceptance,” Tim McCoy, the commission’s deputy director, said Wednesday.
The season opened Jan. 1, and the first two licensed hunters killed one male cougar apiece with the help of hunting dogs. The Pine Ridge season will resume in February and remain open through March or until hunters kill either two more males or one female mountain lion. Dogs, however, can’t be used for the rest of the season.
The commission opened much of the rest of the state to year-round hunting for those who buy a $15 permit. It did so because any cats encountered there are likely to be young males seeking new territories.
The Pine Ridge season must close after one female mountain lion is killed, even if the quota of four male cats has not yet been reached. So Chambers argued that the season should have been called off in December when a young female cat was killed incidentally in a trapper’s snare in the Pine Ridge.
Chambers repeated a promise Wednesday that he will oppose new bills aimed at helping Game and Parks. And he upped the ante a bit by saying he will go after the agency’s budget if his repeal bill fails to pass.
The senator also introduced a bill Wednesday to repeal a 2012 measure allowing county governments to control prairie dog populations with poison.
The Omaha senator introduced a bill Wednesday to end a new hunting season for mountain lions in Nebraska. He even said he will prioritize his mountain lion bill rather than one carried over from last year to repeal capital punishment.
It’s a measure of just how much Chambers despises cougar hunting, and a calculation that death penalty repeal is unlikely to advance in a 60-day session.
“These are not hunters,” Chambers said. “This is butchery. It’s slaughter.”
State officials said they established the season this year to maintain or slightly decrease a small, breeding population of the big cats in the Pine Ridge of northwest Nebraska.
Sen. Al Davis of Hyannis, whose district includes a portion of the Pine Ridge, said about 90 percent of his constituents support the hunting season. And so does he.
“I think if Sen. Chambers lived with them in his backyard, he might feel differently,” Davis said. “We’re not eradicating them, we’re hunting them.”
Mountain lions were once eradicated from Nebraska, but migrating cats from surrounding states began showing up in the 1990s. Wildlife biologists have documented about 22 resident cougars in the Pine Ridge.
In 2012, lawmakers passed a bill giving the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission the authority to set a season.
“Part of what we’re trying to do is manage this balance between mountain lion populations and social acceptance,” Tim McCoy, the commission’s deputy director, said Wednesday.
The season opened Jan. 1, and the first two licensed hunters killed one male cougar apiece with the help of hunting dogs. The Pine Ridge season will resume in February and remain open through March or until hunters kill either two more males or one female mountain lion. Dogs, however, can’t be used for the rest of the season.
The commission opened much of the rest of the state to year-round hunting for those who buy a $15 permit. It did so because any cats encountered there are likely to be young males seeking new territories.
The Pine Ridge season must close after one female mountain lion is killed, even if the quota of four male cats has not yet been reached. So Chambers argued that the season should have been called off in December when a young female cat was killed incidentally in a trapper’s snare in the Pine Ridge.
Chambers repeated a promise Wednesday that he will oppose new bills aimed at helping Game and Parks. And he upped the ante a bit by saying he will go after the agency’s budget if his repeal bill fails to pass.
The senator also introduced a bill Wednesday to repeal a 2012 measure allowing county governments to control prairie dog populations with poison.
source
No comments:
Post a Comment