Utah Approves Year-round Cougar Hunting

In a decisive transfer to handle predator populations and shield livestock and wildlife, Governor Spencer Cox has signed Home Invoice 469, permitting yearlong cougar looking all through Utah.

The laws, which was signed into legislation on Friday, streamlines looking laws by eradicating redundant licensing necessities and giving hunters extra flexibility to handle cougar populations. Below the brand new legislation, hunters can now pursue cougars, often known as mountain lions or pumas, at any time of yr with a daily looking license, eliminating the necessity for a separate allow.

Senator Scott Sandall, R-Tremonton, who launched the modification, cited growing cougar numbers throughout the state as justification for the change: “We’re getting a rise in our cougar numbers throughout the state,” Sandall acknowledged on the Senate flooring. This progress in predator populations has change into a priority for farmers, ranchers, and wildlife managers targeted on defending susceptible deer herds.

The invoice handed with robust assist in each chambers, receiving a 21-6 vote within the Senate and a 57-13 vote within the Home, demonstrating broad legislative backing for the measure. Utah’s new method aligns with neighboring states like Idaho, which have adopted related administration methods for predator species.

DWR spokeswoman Religion Heaton Jolley famous that latest research have proven cougars can considerably affect deer populations: “Latest research on choose mule deer populations have indicated that cougars could cause deer populations to fail to satisfy administration goals, and elevated harvest of cougars on these models has correlated with a rise in grownup doe survival and rising inhabitants numbers of deer.”

The laws builds upon the state’s 2020 Home Invoice 125, which approved wildlife officers to supply extra looking permits for cougars when deer and elk populations fall beneath sure thresholds. This administration method has proven promising ends in serving to to revive steadiness to Utah’s ecosystems.

Whereas conservation teams have expressed considerations in regards to the invoice, supporters argue that the laws supplies crucial instruments for wildlife administration and safety of agricultural pursuits. Farmers and ranchers, who’ve skilled livestock losses attributable to predators, view the change as an vital step in defending their livelihoods.

The DWR has dedicated to monitoring cougar populations rigorously beneath the brand new laws. “We’ll work to ensure that cougar populations aren’t impacted negatively,” Jolley mentioned. “We wish to maintain that balanced ecosystem of cougar looking and deer populations, so we’re proper now working by way of that public course of with the wildlife board to replace these managements and guidelines.”

The invoice additionally addresses different vital wildlife administration points, together with laws on path cameras and land acquisitions for habitat safety. Consultant Casey Snider, R-Paradise, the invoice’s unique sponsor, emphasised that the land acquisition facet of the laws will profit each wildlife and agriculture: “The parcels that we [acquire] by way of this program enable grazing to proceed,” Snider defined, countering considerations that the invoice would possibly scale back agricultural land.

Utah’s method represents a return to native management of wildlife administration, with selections being made by elected officers accountable to their constituents slightly than solely by unelected bureaucrats. The brand new legislation takes impact on Could 3, 2023, giving Utah hunters an vital new device in managing the state’s wildlife sources and defending very important financial pursuits.