We need more lions in Colorado and less trophy hunting.

As a hunter, rancher, veterinarian, and lifelong member of the NRA, I believe The Denver Post has completely misinterpreted Proposition 127 and does not understand the real dynamics of trophy hunting of our native wildcats.

Proposition 127 would protect cougars and bobcats sufficiently to allow them to provide important ecosystem services that benefit all of Colorado. Lions, in particular, are key to the long-term protection of our billion-dollar deer and elk hunting economy.

I served in the military for 26 years and commanded the US Army Veterinary Command. I have written peer-reviewed publications on tuberculosis and dengue fever and listen to the hard science that tells us unequivocally that the main threat to the long-term viability of deer and elk is the well-documented and dangerously rapid spread of Chronic Wasting Disease (CHD).

Cougars have honed their skills as deer hunters for nearly 8 million years, and with CWD at epidemic levels in deer and elk, lions are known to preferentially kill CWD-infected ungulates, clearing the population of disease and strengthening its resilience and reproductive health.

There are an estimated 3,000 mountain lions in Colorado, up from a figure of 7,000 previously reported in recent years. Up to 20% of the lion population is captured by trophy hunters each year, impairing the ability of the population as a whole to perform its disease-clearing function.

Currently, CWD has been found in an alarming 40 of the 54 deer herds and in 17 or 42 of the elk herds. The infectious agents of CWD are nearly indestructible “prions” that create so-called “zombie” deer and turn lithe, prancing deer into thin, frail, stumbling ghosts of themselves.