Protections for mountain lions adopted

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission approved new rules to protect Texas mountain lions today.

The new standards ban “canned hunting,” the rare but still legal practice of capturing and later releasing a mountain lion to pursue and kill it. They also require trappers to ensure that mountain lions are not kept alive in traps or snares for more than 36 hours.

Until today, Texas did not have trap check requirements for mountain lions, which leaves animals potentially trapped for days or weeks until they succumb to dehydration or exposure. Requiring trappers to check their traps will likely lead to far fewer traps and thus prevent deaths of mountain lions, black bears and other animals.

Parks and Wildlife received over 7000 comments from the public on the proposal – 91% of which were in support.

Texas mountain lions are in trouble. These majestic cats once roamed all of Texas, but hunting around the turn of the last century dramatically reduced their numbers. Now they are found only in small pockets in west and south Texas. Today the mountain lion is considered imperiled.

As our population grows and our landscapes become increasingly fragmented, it is critical that we better understand this species and create a management plan to conserve mountain lions into the future.

TPWD is developing a management plan and as an important first step, has adopted new standards on hunting and trapping mountain lions. Texas had been the only state with mountain lions without such regulations.