The New Mexico Game Commission is proposing rule changes that will affect carnivore populations. You need to speak up now to protect carnivores.
Members of the public testified that politics is the source of these proposals and not science. Carnivores are crucially important to the integrity of ecosystems, specifically:
- they contribute to riparian forests and stream health
- traps are cruel and indiscriminate and should have no part in managing cougars or any wildlife
- the opportunity for viewing these large carnivores is important, as is just knowing they are present
Act to protect carnivores!
The Game Commission will make critical decisions about bears and cougars at its August 27 meeting at Santa Fe Community College. Please plan to attend!
The formal proposals won’t be out until the end of July, but you can make comments now and help to influence what that final proposal will look like. Please remind the agency that carnivores are just as important as herbivores, if not more so, to the health, diversity and resiliency of natural systems, and request that bears and cougars be more strongly protected, not less. Comments should be sent to DGF-Bear-Cougar-Rules@state.nm.us.
Featured image from Animal Protection of New Mexico