Why do we blame lions?

Mule deer herds are declining across the West for many reasons. But three states, Utah, Wyoming and Nevada, want to pin the blame on mountain lions.

Utah has now opened the floodgates to year-round lion hunting and trapping, while Nevada continues to resist trapping reforms. In Wyoming, a proposed law allowing lion hunting and trapping without restrictions was thwarted only after legislators heard overwhelming opposition from citizens as well as the state’s wildlife department.

In 2023, Utah legislators quietly but drastically altered lion management without a public involvement process. Since then, 82 percent of lions killed in the state—particularly females—have been killed in traps.

This coincides with a recent study that found that most mountain lions who fall victim to traps are hungry mothers, driven to feed themselves and their kittens. But dead mothers can’t nourish orphaned kittens, who are left to starve.

State agencies use thesurvival of adult females as a measure for maintaining lion populations. Utah data show that in 2024, the female lion mortality rate reached an unsustainable 60%. READ MORE…