Wildlife agency illegally funded experiment to kill off dozens of mountain lions and bears

As many as 15 lions and 25 black bears would be killed each year for three years

The US Fish and Wildlife Service illegally helped pay for a Colorado programme to kill dozens of mountain lions and black bears as part of a population experiment, a federal judge has found.

The experiment was established to determine if the predators were partly responsible for declining mule deer populations.

US District Court Chief Judge Marcia Krieger in Denver found that the agency failed to do a required analysis of the programme’s environmental effects on Tuesday.

"Fish and Wildlife really didn’t go into the environmental impact that removing mountain lions and black bears would have on those areas," said Andrea Zaccardi, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity.

"The mule deer are suffering mostly from a reduction in habitat."

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The decision halts the funding for the $4m (£2.9m) programme for state-authorised kills of mountain lions and black bears in southern Colorado’s Upper Arkansas River Valley.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife decided in 2016 to conduct an experiment to see if limited killing of mountain lions and black bears would have an impact on deer numbers.

The body was concerned about declining populations of mule deer, which help sustain Colorado’s nearly $1bn hunting industry.

The programme aimed to test whether removing some lions and bears would allow more deer to survive and increase their overall numbers.

As many as 15 lions and 25 black bears would be killed each year for three years in one area near Rifle, in northwestern Colorado.

About 60 lions could be killed over three years in southern Colorado in a study lasting nine years.

The lawsuit was filed against the Fish and Wildlife by the Center for Biological Diversity, WildEarth Guardians and the Humane Society of the United States.

They argued that the agency largely relied on analysis by the US Agriculture Department that didn’t address this specific plan and funding, which was required for any federal funding.

The filing also said that declining deer populations stemmed from human development, including oil and gas leasing, and that killing those predators would damage local ecosystems.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife says its research is ongoing and that other factors could include maternal and fetal conditions and changes in the availability of forage.

Actual numbers of predators killed under the programme were not immediately available. A second Colorado Parks and Wildlife program in northwestern Colorado’s Piceance Basin has been completed.

Ms Krieger ordered the Fish and Wildlife Service to conduct a more complete and focused environmental analysis of the program.

Colorado’s Division of Natural Resources, which oversees Colorado Parks and Wildlife, referred a query for comment to Fish and Wildlife from the Associated Press.

That agency didn’t immediately respond to a telephone message and email seeking comment on Tuesday’s ruling from the AP.

Reporting by the Associated Press