Supporters of the Mountain Lion Ballot Initiative say the study against the proposed law is flawed

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- According to a report by the Common Sense Institute (CSI), Ballot Initiative 91, which seeks to ban trophy hunting of Mountain Lions and other big cats, could cost Colorado Parks and Wildlife millions of dollars a year.

That impact is broken up into two categories: dynamic impact and direct impact.

The direct impact is around $410,000 per year, based on the previous year's sale of mountain lion hunting licenses.

Bobcat licenses are added in the study, which make up about $15,000 in CPW revenue, for a total estimated revenue loss of about $425,000.

The "Dynamic Impact" is determined by the impact an increase in Mountain Lion populations would have on deer and elk populations and the resulting decrease in hunting revenue of those species.

The study states, "The additional ungulates mountain lions kill per year equates to a lost opportunity for CPW to sell a license. This lost opportunity would result in a loss of CPW revenue ranging from $3.6 million to $5.8 million; combined with the potential losses from mountain lion and furbearer license sales, CPW could lose between $4 million and $6.2 million of revenue."

The report draws on a study done in Oregon showing that Mountain Lions eat about 1.03 deer or elk per week.

However, Cats Aren't Trophies Campaign Manager Samantha Miller argues that it's not true that an increase in Mountain Lion populations impacts deer or elk populations.

"There have been studies across the years checking to see if we kill more mountain lions, would we have more deer now? And that's simply not the case. It's been proven to be incorrect numerous times," Miller said.

A 2011 study conducted in Idaho shows no correlation between the removal of predators like Coyotes and Mountain Lions and deer populations.

Miller also argued that Mountain Lion populations self-regulate by territory size.

"You will never see an explosion of lions to the point where they would at lower deer populations. I think that if you look at the trend lines of deer and elk populations, they've been consistently healthy in Colorado. In fact, mountain lions do a great service for those populations and they keep them healthy, they preselect for all sorts of dangerous things," Miller said.