Mountain lions make the news a lot in Colorado, and not always in a good way. Colorado had a plan to help protect the deer population from these predators, but that's been put down.

When you first hear that the state has killed over 200 mountain lions, that sounds cruel; I know that from my own knee-jerk reaction. However, the Colorado Sun reports that the state won't be managing the big cats' population that way any longer, at least for a while.

The old plan, which had killed over 200 mountain lions in the southern part of Colorado in the Salida area, was in use to help boost the mule deer population.

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The Colorado Sun reports that, after a lawsuit, a federal judge has ruled that federal dollars cannot be used for the Colorado Department of Parks & Wildlife's project; so now, that project is on hold.

The article quotes the agency, the Center for Biological Diversity, that had brought the lawsuit, and they bring up a good point. From an interview with the agency:

Predators usually prey on the weakest link in a herd. They are killing the weak, young, sick and old mule deer, which can actually make herds stronger in the long run.

Though the project, which was also killing black bears, was reducing the numbers of mountain lions, its current cancellation does not mean that mountain lions can't still be killed for scientific research.

You can get more on the project from the Colorado Sun HERE.

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