ACTION ALERT - COMMISSION TO CONSIDER KOFA LION MORATORIUM

On Friday, TOMORROW, August 7 the Arizona Game & Fish Commission will consider extending the Kofa lion removal moratorium which ended July 31. It is critical to the survival of the Kofa herd that the moratorium NOT BE EXTENDED.

According to information provided by the Az. Game & Fish Department (AZGFD) the Kofa desert bighorn sheep population declined from 800 sheep in 2000 to 390 sheep in 2006. Predation by mountain lions was found to be one of the causal factors in the decline.

Based upon that report the AZGFD developed a variety of action plans to address the identified issues, including a mountain lion predation management plan. As part of the predation management plan, two mountain lions that were trapped on the refuge were lethally removed and the USFWS was immediately challenged for allowing these activities to occur prior to completion of an Environmental Analysis (EA).

At the request of USFWS, the Department agreed to a one year Moratorium on lethal removal of lions captured on the refuge.

On April 23, 2008, the USFWS released a scoping letter to gather input prior to completing the EA.

In 2008, at the request of Arizona Sportsmen for Wildlife, the Arizona Legislature sent a House Concurrent Memorial to Congress on this very issue. The Legislature asked Congress to "take immediate action to reaffirm the Arizona Game & Fish Department's position as the leading agency in the management of non-migratory and non-endangered state wildlife" and that the AZGFD be allowed to "employ, without any unnecessary delays, burdens or obstacles, all management tools and measures necessary to recover the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge desert bighorn sheep population, including the management of predators, water developments, human intervention and the potential for disease epizootics. To date, no action has been taken by Congress and USFWS has done nothing to facilitate or otherwise allow AZGFD to manage its wildlife in the Kofa.

On April 18, 2009 the USFWS requested an additional extension of the Moratorium indicating they needed more time to complete the EA. The Commission extended the Moratorium for 90 days and that moratorium ended on July 31, 2009.

Today, while the USFWS has printed its findings from the EA in the Federal Register, it is highly unlikely that a final decision will be made before March 2010 and mountain lions will continue to kill sheep on the Kofa. At last report one of the offending lions known as KMO4 has killed 14 sheep, averaging one sheep every ten days. And KMO4 is not the only offending lion on the Kofa. The Department's Timeline shows that sheep have been taken by more than one other offending lion on the Kofa.

According to an article in the Arizona Republic, Representative Daniel Patterson (D-Dist 29, Tucson) does not want the AZGFD to shoot lions until the federal government finishes an environmental study on the issue early next year as requested by USFWS. AZSFW does not agree with Representative Patterson as the facts of offending lion, KMO4, speak for themselves.

Rep. Patterson was formerly affiliated with the Southwest Center for Biological Diversity and is reported to be the Ecologist and Southwest Director for Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility since 2006.

It is time for the Commission to say "No More Time" and direct the Department to lethally remove the offending lion as soon as possible. It is the responsible thing to do.

Please call or write members of the Commission and ask them to support AZSFW's request to lethally remove the offending lion and tell USFWS no more moratoriums. The Kofa desert bighorn sheep herd can no longer afford to be held hostage to bureaucratic inefficiencies.

Pete Cimellaro
AZSFW Board Member

Thanks for that article Tony.

All the states need to work at getting rules or regulations concerning the management of state owned wildlife more formalized and reducing the involvement of Federal Wildlife officials invlovement in such manners, even though the wildlife may be on Federal Property.

Despite some conversations I have had with folks in the past on similar situations, I just do not feel that the Feds on most cases like this are as concerned about actually managing the wildlife as they are trying to manage Public Opinions and Attitudes.

Something similar to the sheep/mountain lion issue took place years ago here in Texas during TP&W's early efforts to re-establish Desert Big Horns in the mountains of west Texas.

It finally got so bad, that the only way they were able to csave any viable portion of the herd on the WMA(Wildlife Management Area) where the project was taking place was to go in and fence off, with a lion proof fence, several hundred acres, along with some very intense predator control measures.

Had the area this took place on been Federal property, it is likely the lions would have exterminated all of the sheep.

I go along with the Arizona Game Departments attitude in this matter.

My brother owns some mining claims in the Kofa a interisting place.

When I was there a few years back saw sheep droppings and tracks saw no sheep.