LINCOLN — No one shouted "Kill 'em all!" Thursday at a legislative hearing on mountain lions.
State Sen. LeRoy Louden of Ellsworth, who has seen a big cat on his cattle ranch in northwest Nebraska, said people who hate cougars use a more subtle catchphrase: "Shoot, shovel and shut up."
"That's what's happening to mountain lions," Louden said. "This is just the way it is — the tolerance is zero for them."
Others who appeared before the Legislature's Natural Resources Committee said they have zero understanding for those who want to kill cougars.
"I think it's appalling," said David Thomson of Palmyra.
The testimony involved Legislative Bill 928, which would give the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission authority to allow limited mountain lion hunting.
The bill, sponsored by Louden, won't appease those who favor eradication. Rather it would allow the commission to sell a couple of permits to kill a cougar or two from a small but growing population of the big cats in the Pine Ridge of northwest Nebraska.
"It will not lead to uncontrolled hunting or the decimation of mountain lions," said Sam Wilson, a state wildlife biologist who monitors the cats.
The commission estimates that the Pine Ridge supports a cougar population of between 13 and 28 animals. Although there have been more than 50 confirmed sightings of mountain lions in counties outside the Pine Ridge, those cats are not believed to be part of an established reproducing population.
The agency intends to carry out another Pine Ridge population study this spring to see if the cougar numbers have changed.
Depending on what the study indicates, biologists might want to recommend a hunting season this fall, Wilson said. But unless the bill passes, the commission won't have the authority to set one.
The commission would manage cougar hunting as it does hunting of bighorn sheep. Depending on the condition of the bighorn herd, the commission authorizes one, two or no permits in a given year.
When it approves two bighorn permits, one is auctioned off to the highest bidder and the other is sold through a lottery open only to Nebraska residents. All revenue from the auction and lottery pays for bighorn conservation.
The agency would similarly direct any cougar cash to benefit the cats, Wilson said.
Several hunting organizations testified in support of the bill. So did Lance Kuck, who lives on a ranch near Bassett, where the state recently confirmed a mountain lion sighting.
"I don't mind living with them," said Kuck, who is also a hunting outfitter. "They don't cause me any problems."
Patricia Fuller of Council Bluffs said mountain lions have been eradicated from most of the eastern United States, and their populations are in decline in some Western states. She said she wasn't convinced of the need to start culling Nebraska's population.
"It sounds like it's more about funding an agency," she said.
Angelika Byorth of Lincoln, who formerly ran a turtle conservation project, said while she supports many Game and Parks initiatives, she can't support killing mountain lions.
"It's an animal that right now is trying to emerge from the brink," she said.
Contact the writer:
402-473-9587, joe.duggan@owh.com
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