Court allows cougar management to continue in Arizona (11/25/2002)

A federal court has confirmed the U.S. Forest Service may authorize the taking of mountain lions to protect livestock on an Arizona Wilderness Area.

On October 31, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Forest Service and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) may respond to rancher complaints of mountain lions regularly killing cattle that graze on the Santa Teresa Wilderness Area by destroying the culprits.

In February, the environmental group Forest Guardians filed suit against the Forest Service and APHIS for killing six cougar between July 1997 and March 1999.  The group argued that the Forest Service and APHIS did not conduct the proper environmental studies and did not have authorization for the killings under current guidelines.

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