Colorado cats need your help!

You can make a difference in Colorado today!


In Colorado, almost 45% of all cougars killed by sport hunters in the last
ten years have been female. While the female cougar kill ratio is high in all
states where cougars are hunted for sport, Colorado’s rate is 4-5% higher
than the Western state average—in Colorado, since 1995, 1,649 of the nearly 4,000 cougars killed have been female.

Since its inception in 2001, The Cougar Fund has been committed to preventing the unecessary orphaning and ultimate death by starvation of cougar kittens. This stance is informed by the seminal work of Ken Logan and Linda Sweanor and their work researching pumas in New Mexico. Cougar cubs are dependant on their mothers for survival for a minimum of 10 months after birth. Depending on ecology, prey, and other factors, cougar kittens may rely on their mothers for over 18 months.

Female cougars have dependant young upwards of 70% of their lives. While
other game species are protected while raising their young, cougars are not
—they may give birth to kittens year round.

One of the best ways state game agencies can help reduce the number of
orphaned kittens is to work to reduce the number of female cougars killed
in sport hunts. The Cougar Fund has been working to this end in Colorado
by calling for the instatement of female sub-quotas in Colorado’s cougar
hunting season.

Please, add your voice to our own. Write:

Colorado Wildlife Commission
Colorado Division of Wildlife
6060 Broadway
Denver, CO 80216
Email: wildlife.comm@state.co.us



Please submit your comments to protect female cougars
to the Colorado Wildlife Commission no later than October 20, 2005.



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