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Show MARCH 1997 Who’s Calling the Shots on Utah-s Wildlife Continued from page 9 mits and hunters killed 452 cougars. Total known mortality, including poached, killed by government animal control, and road kill, was 510 that season. Craig Axford, of the Utah Cougar Coalition, said the Coalition’s best guess is that there are 1,500 to 2,000 cougar in Utah. This is not the most pessimistic for number which evidence is available. Axford said a study done in the BoulderEscalante area suggests there are only 900 to 1,200 in the entire state. If that is accurate, total known mortality of 510 1995-96 cougars in would represent about one-half of all the state’s cougar. killing ougar has steadily increased this decade. Last year’s number of 510 cougars killed is double the number of each year’s take from 1990-92. It’s also grown from the annual number killed from 1993-95. Captive Bobcat In one season, an entire cougar population in a given area can be killed off through overhunting, Axford suggested. “In the Henry Mountains, we think the DWR has allocated more cougar hunting permits than there are cougar. They’ve allocated 10, and so far have only taken one cougar. Between 1989 and present, a total of only 10 cougar have been taken in the Henry Mountains area.” Carter said “it’s irresponsible to guess” how many cougar are left in Utah. “DWR is just guessing. The data that exists doesn’t suggest—doesn't come close to suggesting—1,500 or 2,000 Utah cougar. “But total population size is irrelevant anyway. What’s relevant is how many cougars there are in particular, A they’re 4-7 years old, then they have only one or two cubs. Scientists and wildlife managers can cruise along for years watching what seems to be a stable population of bears. Then, boom: almost no females in the Book Cliffs area, and almost no males in the Abajos,” Carter said. Blackwell said DWR_ estimates there are 800-1,200 black bear in Utah. The state has a limited entry permit hunting system. In 1995, 154 permits were available, and hunters killed 53 bears. Twenty-nine bears were killed by government trappers, and 11 bears were killed in other ways, for a total known mortality of 93. In 1996, DWR increased bear hunting permits to 186. The season is not over yet. Blackwell said at least two black bears were victims of poachers last year. Two carcasses were found missing paws and gall bladders, for which there is a lucrative underground market. Coyotes, at least, are doing very well in Utah. Ironically, coyote popula- tions have grown in size and spread in territory Ditto, Carter said for Utah’s black “IT know of no one who believes black bear populations are healthy in all of their individual locations in Utah. Hunters are finding only very bears to shoot now. They're young taking very few old bears,” Carter said. “Black bears don’t reproduce until because the more because of the elimination another canine predator—the from most of the West. Some studies show humans of wolf— would have to kill 75% of the coyote population over five years—without let up of even one year—to permanently reduce the population. The number of coyotes killed in population was 250,000 in 1994, down from 600,000 in 1989. wolf into Yellowstone, the park’s coy- Some Utah hunters blame an increase in cougars for the recent drop in mule deer populations. In the past ote though, DWR Since the reintroduction of the gray population is plummeting, Carter said. The wolves kill and disperse bands of coyotes. We may see for ourselves. Utah officials have said cougar wildlife officials announced late last year that migration patterns suggest the populations fluctuate with the deer population, but that it takes a couple of years for the populations to level out. Axford said fewer deer should be killed to allow the herd to grow, rather gray wolf and the grizzly bear might than kill more return to the Uintas from _ the Yellowstone area within the next seyeral years. In many ways, Utah’s predator policies mirror citizens’ concerns: Will But fewer deer licenses sold means less revenue for DWR. growing? Will they leave enough deer, elk, and game birds for human hunters? Will a cougar or black bear “harvest” a picnicker or hiker? If a predator kills a human, it’s news precisely because it is so rare. Biologist Paul Beier studied every ‘cougar attack on a human in the past 100 years in western North America. Beier found 53 attacks, nine of which were fatal. By contrast, each year deer kill about 130 humans (mostly in car wrecks), bees kill 43 humans, and dogs kill 14 humans. Even rattlesnakes, spiders, and lightening are greater threats to human safety than predators. And game managers shouldn't hold out hope that hunting cougars will reduce the risk of attacks on humans. Beier’s study showed that most cougar attacks were in British is the number of cougars within those groups that are reproductive age. Evidence shows the ratio is not good. bear. But with black bears, it’s even more tricky. said Carter, coyotes you kill, the faster they reproduce. predators eat the profit out of livestock distinct populations. What’s important Some populations are mostly females of breeding age, others, mostly male.” steady,” Columbia where cougars are intensively hunted. But Utah’s predators do kill many sheep and cattle each year. Livestock grower groups complain they lose mil- lions of dollars to predators. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Damage Control’s draft 1996 report 12,398 annual shows cattle that and sheep were lost in Animal With so many you may any growers conflicting opinions, think that DWR would increase its reliance on science to make wildlife policy. No such luck. Last year, in an anonymous letter to Outdoor Life magazine, employees of Utah’s DWR wrote that Gov. Mike Leavitt and his appointees “have destroyed a professional wildlife-management agency and its dedicated personnel in three short years. Morale has never been lower or prospects for scientific management bleaker.” According to Hartt Wixom, a longtime Utah wildlife writer, biology is not allowed to conflict with politics in the DWR now. For example, all DWR personnel who investigated trout whirling disease, spread from the Leavitt family’s trout hatcheries, were terminated or hounded out of their jobs. DWR professionals were cautioned not to speak out against a scientifically risky livestock industry attempt to legalize elk farms. Wixom’s remarks were printed in a Salt Lake Tribune op-ed. With ulation, Utah’s increasing urban non-consumptive pop- wildlife activities, like birdwatching and wildlife photography, are becoming more popular. But DWR is still conditioned to respond to “Over the long termi, it is both cheaper and easier to protect species... in their consumptive users— hunters and livestock growers. And, even intact, functioning ecosys- ~{ With the controversy Utah to cougars, black bears, foxes, and coyotes. “T don’t know advocate cougars. tems than to conserve them individually in Sragmented and decimated livestock | populations under the who | Endangered Species Act.” extinc- tion of predators,” said Tom Bingham of the Utah Farm Bureau Federation. “But we need balance. We realize that even under the best circumstances, some losses will occur. However, loss- es to predators are right up there with the top two or three problems, like market prices and weather, stock growers face.” that live- Cougars also compete with human hunters for mule deer. Axford said that over Utah’s lation, Utah the health of cougar populast year the legislature reduced the penalty for poaching cougar to a misdemeanor. Legislators offered no scientific basis for the change. To ensure predator populations’ long-term survival, the Utah Cougar Coalition and the Preservation Council High Uintas are asking for wildlife preserves where no predator hunting would be allowed. That may be the most cost-effective solution. Richard and fellow scientists wrote, “Over the long term, it is both Utah has been steady, DRW’s Blackwell said. Each year Federal Animal Damage Control hunters and a male cougar will take one deer every two weeks, while a female cougar with trappers kill about 4,500 coyotes, and there are 2,000 cougar in Utah, then they kill and eat about 80,000 mule cheaper and easier to protect species . in their intact, functioning ecosystems than to conserve them individually in fragmented and decimated populations under the Endangered Species deer each year. Utah’s estimated deer Act.” @ others take about 4,500. “The Utah coyote population is cubs will kill a deer every 7-10 days. If |