Dear Friend of Animals,

Beginning today (Wednesday, August 7) through Friday, August 16, you have an opportunity to raise your voice for New Mexico's cougars and bears! 

The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish (NMDGF) is seeking public comment on proposed revisions to the Bear and Cougar Rule in the form of four public meetings throughout the state. This rule dictates if and how bears and cougars can be killed in New Mexico. After years of pressure from Animal Protection of New Mexico's Stop Cougar Trapping campaign, the NMDGF is now taking steps to walk back its damaging 2015 rule changes, but there are more protections for cougars and bears needed. 

If you're able to, please attend one of the below public meetings and urge the NMDGF to:

1. Eliminate ALL recreational cougar trapping. Reverse the Game Commission's 2015 decision to allow the use of traps and snares as a method of cougar "sport harvesting" on both private and state trust lands. The vast majority of New Mexicans oppose cougar trapping, consider it cruel, and are concerned about impacts on other species like endangered Mexican wolves.

2. Reduce annual cougar kill limits. The latest data and scientific literature show that NMDGF has dangerously overestimated the number of cougars in New Mexico and applied inflated percentages of allowable kills (kill limits, or what NMDGF calls "harvest limits"), putting cougar populations at risk. NMDGF needs to rely on best available science to protect and conserve the notoriously hard-to-count cougar.

3. Undo the double bag limits for cougars. Reverse the Game Commission's 2015 decision to allow cougar hunters who kill their bag limit of two cougars to then kill up to two more in cougar management zones where current unjustifiably high kill limits are not met. This move has not yielded the results NMDGF sought, and a double bag limit violates the precautionary principles that should guide careful cougar management.

4. Reduce annual bear kill limits. Another species impacted by incorrect application of science, the annual number of bears killed in New Mexico never reach more than half of the current unjustifiably high kill limits. NMDGF should revise its approach to management of bears to ensure this important species is not decimated by irresponsible hunting allowances. 

If you're not able to attend a meeting in person but would still like to submit comments on the proposed changes, you can do so: 

• By mail: New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, Attn: Bear and Cougar Rule Development, P.O. Box 25112, Santa Fe, NM 87504

• By email: DGF-Bear-Cougar-Rules@state.nm.us

Don't miss this opportunity to speak up for our state's vulnerable wildlife and ask the NMDGF to enact more humane, science-supported policies.