RENO, Nev. — State wildlife officials have announced a plan to kill more mountain lions to help increase the deer population, a move criticized by animal advocates who say drought and development are more important factors in the decrease of deer numbers.
The Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners told agency staffers last week to employ the help of sport hunters and contract employees from the U.S. Agriculture Department's Wildlife Services for the new "program of intensive, sustained predator reduction."
Ken Mayer, director of the Nevada Department of Wildlife, said his agency would use science to figure out the number of lions to be killed in areas where the predators have been found to adversely affect deer numbers.
"It's not an effort to exterminate mountain lions," Mayer said. "It's an effort to better manage lions with the prey base. Some hunters think the solution to the deer problem is to kill a lot of lions and the deer will come back."
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The state's deer population fell from 240,000 in 1988 to 108,000 in 2008, while its current lion population ranges from 1,500 to 2,400, according to the wildlife department.
Nevada already allows lion hunts, each year issuing a quota of lion tags that hunters can obtain.
