A group of local and regional wildlife advocates have submitted a petition to the Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners requesting the state’s trapping regulations be changed to better protect mountain lions inadvertently caught in traps.
“The Nevada Wildlife Commission’s stated mission is to ‘protect and conserve wildlife and its habitat,’ and the trapping policies they support do the exact opposite when it comes to mountain lions,” said Don Molde, co-founder of the Nevada Wildlife Alliance.
Mountain lions are a “non-target” species in Nevada. One of the rules the group wants changed is Nevada’s 96-hour trap check window. It’s “the longest and cruelest in the American West. It’s no wonder that mountain lions lose digits, limbs, and lives in these unchecked devices,” the group said in a press release to Battle Born Media.
“Mountain lions are Nevada’s only extant apex carnivore, and studies show that species like lions have substantial and measurable benefits for ecosystems including river-corridor health, increased biodiversity, disease control, and even carbon sequestration,” the group said.
The Board of Wildlife Commissioners meets next on Nov. 15 in Reno and the petitioners expect the commission to hear the petition on that date.