New Mexico Couple Charged with Poaching Mountain Lion

The US Department of Justice announced a plea agreement has been reached for a New Mexico couple that illegally killed a mountian lion in Colorado, and then transported the body across state lines into New Mexico. The couple, John "Tom" Boyer and Deborah Boyer pleaded guilty to violating the Lacey Act.

In January 2006, the Boyers, who both own and operate Let's Tree It Outfitters in Reserve, New Mexico, hunted and killed a mountain lion in the area around Hot Sulphur Springs, Colorado. They then brought that body of the lion to New Mexico. The Boyers admitted to this as part of the plea agreement.

The Lacey Act specifically forbids the transportation of an illegally killed animal across state lines. Mountain lion hunting in Colorado is legal if one has the right license, since the state monitors the harvesting of the lions, otherwise known as cougars or pumas, and allows hunting on a quota basis. The non-resident fee for a license is approximately $250 for the season, which runs from mid-November to the end of March.

Instead of the license fee that the Boyers could have paid, they will now each pay a $3,000 fine for the illegal kill, as well as another $3,000 each in restitution to the Colorado Division of Wildlife's "Operation Game Thief." The Operation Game Thief is a program started in 1981 that offers rewards for citizens to report poaching. Colorado estimates that poaching accounts for similar numbers of wildlife kills as the number of animals that are hunted legally. Ironically, the Operation Game Thief program was first implemented in New Mexico and then adopted by 48 other states.

In addition to fines and restitution, John Boyer will be on probation for three years. During that time, he is not allowed to hunt or accompany anyone hunting anywhere in the world. He is also never allowed to have a hunting license in the State of Colorado.

Deborah Boyer will also serve three years probation, and she is also not allowed to hunt or be with anyone hunting for the term of her probation. Furthermore, Deborah Boyer will not be allowed to perform taxidermy services on any wildlife killed within Colorado.

Colorado's population of mountain lions is not considered threatened or imperiled, but conservation groups are pressuring the state to lower the hunting quotas. Also, Colorado has recently made it mandatory for the 2007-2008 season that all mountain lion hunters in the state must pass an online identification course in order to ensure that they are only hunting male cats, rather than females.

Source: US Department of Justice, Colorado Division of Wildlife, SINAPU, Mountian Lion Foundation, NatureServe Explorer