Monitoring State Wildlife Management

In the Wild West many wildlife species such as coyotes, black bears, bobcats, prairie dogs and mountain lions go virtually unprotected under the Endangered Species Act but are managed by individual state agencies.

Many of these species are threatened by habitat loss in the wake of suburban sprawl, oil and gas drilling, logging, ski industry expansions, and over hunting.  WildEarth Guardians watchdogs state agencies to ensure their policies and practices do allow for sustainable wildlife populations.

Mountain Lions

One of WildEarth Guardians' priority campaigns for state-managed wildlife protection is our mountain lion campaign.  Mountain lions, once boasted the broadest geographic distribution of any terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere. Now they inhabit only 50% of their historic range in the U.S. and Canada.

Our long-term goals for this campaign include:

• Protect females—the species’ biological bank account—and their dependent young. by pressuring states to require mandatory hunter education so that females are not killed by hunters.  We have successfully passed this program in Colorado.
• Ensure sport-hunting quota are sustainable
• Educate the public about lion ecology. Teach people how to coexist with this carnivore, thus reducing the likelihood of conflicts with humans or pets.

View our cougar brochure.