MountainLion_AnAnimalwithaLife_Anderson_Melanie_ConiferCO_22April2021_Reel4052.mp3

Melanie Anderson [00:00:00] It's hard to understand why someone wants a beautiful cat as a trophy.

Melanie Anderson [00:00:07] And I will tell you an interesting story about Panthera and Howard Quigley, who started with the Hornocker Wildlife Institute.

Melanie Anderson [00:00:17] And Summerlee was funding this enormous study, as I mentioned previously, in the Tetons and Yellowstone National Park. And, of course, lions aren't trophy hunted in the park, but they are certainly around the park.

Melanie Anderson [00:00:34] And I had noticed a lot of the research that we funded in several Western states. One upsetting aspect of it was that trophy hunters' outfitters would target lions with collars.

Melanie Anderson [00:00:55] And they would target lions with collars because they wanted the trophy and because they were easy to find, if they could get in on that radio frequency.

Melanie Anderson [00:01:06] And then they didn't want the science. They, they were afraid. They were afraid the science would show that these lions shouldn't be hunted anymore.

Melanie Anderson [00:01:15] So in the Yellowstone and Teton area, if you killed a collared lion, you had to return the collar. So they would bring the collar back to Panthera and they would have to give the, the name and address of the, the person who killed the lion.

Melanie Anderson [00:01:43] So one of the interesting aspects that Howard would do (I really admired him for this) - he would call the the hunter. And he would say, "You know, you killed Lion F-66 and we have five, six years of data on her, and I'm just wondering if you'd be interested in knowing a little more about her.".

Melanie Anderson [00:02:13] And he said about nine times out of ten, they would say, "Yeah, yeah."

Melanie Anderson [00:02:20] So Howard would proceed to tell them where this cat was born, how she grew up, the experiences that she had, what she did, the certain, the kind of prey that she went after - just kind of giving them a picture of an animal with a life, who enjoyed certain things, who had a skill set of sorts, who had these experiences.

Melanie Anderson [00:02:52] And he said that by the end of the call, more often than not, the guy seemed a little remorseful, like he maybe was rethinking this.

Melanie Anderson [00:03:07] And I think that's important. I think it's important that hunters think about these animals and the lives that they have and how they ended that life.