A proposal to ban the hunting of bobcats, lynx and mountain lions in Colorado will officially appear on the ballot this November, according to the Secretary of State’s Office. 

Proposition 91, backed by a group called Cats Aren’t Trophies, claims that the “trophy hunting” of these cats “serves no socially acceptable or ecologically beneficial purpose and fails to further public safety.” The proposal exempts from penalties the killing of big cats in defense of human life or livestock.

Supporters of the measure argue it will protect the big cats that call Colorado home.

Opponents criticized it as “ballot box biology” and contend it will do the opposite of what it intends to accomplish.

Proposition 91 defines trophy hunting as “intentionally killing, wounding, pursuing, or entrapping” a mountain lion, bobcat, or lynx.

Critics said the measure is driven by “extremists” and it threatens Colorado’s “fragile ecosystem.”  

“Under the current science-based management, our mountain lion and bobcat populations are thriving,” said Dan Gates, who has been active in Colorado conservation efforts for over three decades. “This measure continues to be driven by out-of-state extremists who are seeking to threaten the balance of Colorado’s fragile ecosystem. This ballot measure is dangerous, reckless, and based on absolutely zero scientific research. This measure has absolutely no place in Colorado.”

Gates is also the director of the Colorado Trappers & Predator Hunter’s Association.

CATS released the following statement in response to Gates: 

“Colorado voters should know our opposition, Dan Gates, is a predator hunter and commercial fur trapper, supported financially by out-of-state Safari Club International, and that we are a coalition of 900 volunteers from across the state of Colorado, in rural counties, including ethical hunters. What is truly extreme is to keep letting out-of-state trophy hunters pay outfitters $8,000 to watch a pack of dogs, with tracking collars, trap a mountain lion or bobcat up a tree just so that payer can shoot that animal for a keepsake head. This is a moral issue, and our measure upholds ethical hunting, and our state wildlife agency as the one to professionally manage, with the best science, the rare individual lion that poses any conflict to humans, pets or livestock.”

Proposition 91 is among several measures that will appear on the November the ballot. A referral from the state legislature would enshrine the right to abortion in the state Constitution through Proposition 89. An initiative would cap the growth of property tax revenue at 4% annual through Proposition 50.

Negotiations are ongoing with the tax measure’s sponsor, Advance Colorado, to remove it and Proposition 108, which seeks to reduce property tax assessment rates, from the ballot. 

Assuming a deal is reached, the intent is to pass the compromise in a special session of the the Colorado General Assembly.

Along with Proposition 108, five more measures remain under the signature review phase ahead of the Sept. 4 deadline for propositions to qualify for the November ballot. 

For more information about the initiatives that could be on the ballot this election, click here. 

This story was updated to include Dan Gates affiliations with hunting organizations and a counterstatement from Cats Aren’t Trophies.