Conservation groups ask NM Game Commission to oppose cougar-trapping proposal

For Immediate Release, May 1, 2015 Contacts: Mary Katherine Ray, (575) 772­-5655, mkrscrim@gmail.com; Phil Carter, (505) 967­-5297, phil@apnm.org; Michael Robinson, (575) 313­7017, michaelr@biologicaldiversity.org; Kevin Bixby, (575) 649­-7260, kevin@wildmesquite.org; Judy Paulsen, (505) 899­-3245, jpaulsen@projectcoyote.org SILVER CITY, N.M.— Eight conservation organizations in the TrapFree New

New Mexico’s iconic cougars and bears: more valuable than a stuffed trophy

New Mexico’s wildlife management agency is throwing caution to the wind by ignoring sound science and the state’s worsening climate threats, as they call for unsustainable and unjustifiable levels of bear and cougar trophy hunting. Game officials have doubled down on permitting trophy hunters to kill New Mexico’s rare and iconic black bears and cougars—864 black bears and 563 cougars annually—all with the aid of radio-collared hunting hounds—for each of the next four years.