101424 Lesley Hollywood

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Oh, good to have you here. Jimmy is my name.
You got your ballot. I arrived on Saturday. I'm gonna
fill mine out today and drop it off of the dropbox.
Get that done probably this week int or next. I'll
fly out for a day or afternoon to see my
son and deliver his ballot to him on the college campus.
He wants to fill it out, and then I'll fly

(00:21):
it back and I'll shirp it right into the dropbox
for him. So anyway, it's election season, twenty two days
until election day, and if you got your ballot, fill
those things out, get him in. You never know, you
can have a snowstorm or something happened, or God forbid
your debt on election day and you get your ballot
ballot cast before and that way, Yeah, it's just it's
better that way. We would fill mine out today and

(00:43):
have that all completed. And I've been telling you for
weeks now, vote don't. I mean, I know you know
who you're going to vote for for president, and maybe
you're congress person. I get that, But there's a hell
of a lot of things on our Colorado ballot. It's
a very big ballot. There's a lot of stuff on there,
and you need to understand that you get stuff on
those proposition and amendments, et cetera that takes effort, and
a lot of times there's activists behind that and they're

(01:05):
trying to put something on there and hoping that you
get bored with it and don't go that far in
the ballot, and therefore they enact some kind of policy
that backs up their extreme or crazy agenda. Now, not
everything on the down ballot is a no vote, but
you need to be very careful because there's people that
put stuff on there to drive the policy in the
way of life of Colorado, and they hope that you're

(01:26):
just going to vote to the top of the ballot
and never get below, and then all their activists are
going to vote yes or vote on some down ballot
initiative and then all of a sudden, the way we
live in Colorado is altered. One of those things you
need to be aware of is Proposition one twenty seven.
And I want to bring in Leslie Hollywood the end
of the conversation. We've known Leslie for a Second Amendment

(01:47):
issues for many years on the program, but Proposition one
twenty seven is about hunting a mountain lions Leslie Hollywood,
Good morning, Welcome back to the show.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
Good morning, Jeremy. How are you.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
I'm doing very very well well. The proposition one twenty seven.
Some of these things just seem so random, But nothing
ever random, gets on a ballot. Somebody has to be
passionate about a topic. They have to decide they want
to get something on a ballot. They got to get
their signatures. Help us understand how did proposition one twenty
seven end up on the ballot. I'm a solid note
on this thing, but it's oftentimes important to understand the

(02:22):
I guess the cause are the people behind an initiative
before you can kind of understand what they're trying to accomplish.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
Absolutely so, Proposition one twenty seven a wood ban of
a hunting of mountain lions, bobcats, and Canadian links here
in Colorado. It's important to understand that it's already federally
illegal to hunt Canadian links, so that one really just
shouldn't have never even made it this far. This proposition
is actually being promoted by the proponents of it, the

(02:50):
people supporting it as a trophy hunting ban. They're trying
to act like mountain lions and bobcats are just are
only hunted for trophy and never for food things like that.
And it's also another thing that's super important for people
to understand is that trophy hunting in Colorado is actually
already illegal, especially of these big cats. If somebody were

(03:12):
to actually get a big cat, a mountain lion during
one of their hunts, the edible components of that cat
must be harvested for human conception. They cannot, They cannot
trophy hunt. So it's very very misleading. And initially the
language in it did include trophy hunting language, and that
did get removed through some challenges to the title board.

(03:35):
So this got on to the ballot, as you know,
basically a citizen initiative, but it had a lot of
big money behind it. And one of the people who
is behind it. His name is Wayne Putt Sully, and
he is the former CEO of the Humane Society of
Colorado and he helped get the same initiative pass in California.
When he was passing it in California, this is what

(03:56):
he had to say, and I think these words are
incredibly important. He said, we are going to use the
ballot box and the democratic process to stop all hunting
in the United States. We will take it species by
species until all hunting is stopped in California. So we
will take it state by state. So here we have
somebody who has already used his influence and his money

(04:20):
to push this and get it passed, and only one
other state has ever done it, which is California. And
now he is doing what he promised to do. Whates
take it state by state, and now they have come
to Colorado to try to do this.

Speaker 1 (04:34):
The voice of Leslie Hollywood, we're talking about Proposition one
twenty seven, which would ban mountain lion hunting. Letstie. One
of the things I've been telling my listeners, and I
think I'm correct here, is that Colorado Parks and Wildlife
manages all sorts of They're the ones who issue these
licenses or tags so that you can go hunting, and
they do so based on how they need to manage

(04:54):
the population. And anybody that votes for Proposition one twenty seven,
it doesn't mean that the poor kiddi kid, he's not
going to get killed. It's just going to put the
managing of that population back in the hands of Colorado
Parks and wildlife. Those cats are still going to be managed.
You're still going to be exterminated if you will, but
it's just going to be one more thing Colorado Parks
and Wildlife has to do, because that's what they do.

(05:15):
They manage the population of wildlife. Am I correct?

Speaker 2 (05:19):
You are correct? So, yes, Colorado Parks and Wildlife is
responsible for actually it's about eight hundred and eighty or
I'm sorry, nine hundred and sixty. They're responsible for managing
nine hundred and sixty different species of wildlife in Colorado.
Only eighty of those are huntable, and the huntable eighty
actually helped protect the other of those nine hundred and

(05:41):
sixty species so that we can continue to have a
very diverse wildlife population in Colorado, which anyone who live
here knows that we do and it's wonderful. So the
hunting of these big cats is actually part of a
larger management protocol that has to do with more than
just the cats themselves. In order to get a license

(06:01):
to hunt a mountain lion, they a person would have
to go through a specific course through Parks and Wildlife
that has to do with just hunting mountain lions, and
then they have to pass the test and then they
have to apply for a limited number of these licenses
that are given out each year. The number of licenses
given out each year, it depends on population of the

(06:24):
lions of the different other species we have here in Colorado.
Then if they actually were to get one, only about
nineteen percent of people who get a license actually get
a kill. So, for example, in twenty twenty three, we
had about anywhere from around between four and five thousand
mountain lions population here in Colorado. They gave out twenty

(06:46):
five hundred licenses to hunt them. Of those, nineteen percent
actually got a kill, so that was five hundred and
five hundred and four mountain lions that were taken in
twenty twenty three. But when you look at how large
that population is, and actually many people think it's bigger
than we think it is, and that doesn't include kittens,

(07:07):
that's only the adult cats, and then of course they're breeding.
There's a lot of different pieces that go into this,
so that is how somebody would actually get a license
once they have Actually, if they do get a kill,
what they have to do is actually within forty eight
hours in form Colorado Parks and Wildlife and within five
days they have to connect with them to have the
remains inspected, and actually is kind of interesting when they

(07:30):
when they inspect the remains, CPW actually takes a tooth
from the mountain lion to age it to put that
goes into their information that they use to give out
licenses in the next year. So it's a very very
scientific process and it's very well regulated and they do
a fantastic job. And removing that ability from them is
going to do just what you said. It will take

(07:52):
it away from the hunters, but we'll put it in
the hands of agents of the state. In California, where
it has been banned, we've actually had we've actually seen
them have to take as many mountain lions as the
hunters were, but now they just pay agents of the
state to do it instead, instead of allowing the citizens
to be part of that process.

Speaker 1 (08:10):
Talking about Proposition one twenty seven, I'm a no vote
on that, and I hope you would be as well.
It's biology about ballot box. We seem to have gotten
that way in Colorado. We end up reintroducing the wolves
and that had some untold and unannounced consequences in the
agricultural community. And I think this is going to have
some untold results in the agricultural community if we don't

(08:35):
we if we pass proposition one twenty seven, talk about
the hashtag if you will unintended consequences of not allowing
people to hunt these mountain lions as needed. They're bobcats
as well.

Speaker 2 (08:48):
So one of the things that I think a lot
of people don't realize is that mountain lions are apex predators,
and what that means is that they hunt everything, but
nothing hunts them. There is nothing that will take a
mountain lion except for a human. And I always think
that's one of the reasons that we as humans can
hunt apex predators. But we weren't given big claws or

(09:09):
sharp teeths or great strengths. We were given the brains
to understand this stuff. So these apex predators, nothing is
going to hunt them. Nothing will kill them except for
humans or old age or sickness. But they will hunt everything,
and primarily here in Colorado, they hunt elk and deer,
And statistically, what we understand about mountain lions and their

(09:31):
hunting methods is they take one just over one deer
in or one elk a week. So if we're looking
at a population between four and five thousand mountain lions
that continues to grow. You can imagine how quickly we're
going to They will decimate our deer population. About sixty
six percent of what they consume is actually mule deer,

(09:53):
which is declining here in Colorado as it is, and
about fifty percent of them are fonds, so it's just
a baby deer that they're out there taking. So this
could have huge impacts on our deer and our hunting populations,
which will have ripple effects on the fiscal impact of this.
So fiscally, we will be looking at losing you know,

(10:13):
just these mountain lion licenses. That's about about half a
million dollars a year that put Parks and Wildlife gets
from that, and they use that to support the management
of the other species of our parks and our trails
and just keeping Colorado beautiful. But the domino effect will
actually be the reduction in the elk and deer population,
So in the end we'll be losing elk and deer

(10:34):
tags on that, and some fiscal analysts have actually said
that that that far reaching effect will actually go into
the tens of millions of dollars that Colorado Parks and
wildlife will lose. So, if you love our wildlife in Colorado,
if you love our diverse landscape and the ability for

(10:55):
CPW to continue to put the money and manage these
beautiful lands we have here in our mountains, this is
a very important proposition to vote down to vote no on.

Speaker 1 (11:06):
Let me ask you. We've seen this in other areas,
like the wolf reintroduction, that you have people on the
I twenty five corridor that live in urban Colorado that
they say, oh, the portal the wolves, Yeah, let's do that.
All the pretty little kiddy cats, let's do that. And
it really it affects us, not in let's say Fort College.
It doesn't affect you in Johnstown, it doesn't affect you,

(11:27):
and even bolder, but it does affect people up in
the high country, up in the mountains. Isn't that kind
of a danger that some people on the EYE twenty
five corridor, uneducated about Proposition one twenty seven. They think
they're just saving the kitty cats, and yet they're really
causing a hell of a lot of problems across the
state because they're voting. They're not voting in the interest

(11:48):
of the entire state. They're voting on their own emotions
about kitty cats.

Speaker 2 (11:52):
Absolutely, So a couple of different things will happen. One,
as we continue to spread and build into the mountain region,
and just as we know how much building and everything
is going on here in Colorado, we will see mountain
lions continue to have more interactions with humans closer to
the cities, which we already see that happening from time

(12:15):
to time, and as we allow their populations to just
grow unregulated, that will happen even more. But another thing
that is really important, and we've seen this a lot
with the wolves, is actually the depredation of livestock. So
as we've seen with wolves that have been killing livestock
of some of these different ranchers really up in the
in the high country where we have a lot of

(12:35):
ranches a lot of cattle currently, because mountain lions are
considered big game by Colorado Parks and Wildlife, which they're
considered big game because they're huntable game. If this initiative passes,
that would actually take these cats off of the big
game list and they would no longer be considered big

(12:56):
game because they're big game. They are the ranchers who
may lose livestock to depredations are actually eligible for reimbursement
from Colorado Parks and Wildlife, And currently we pay about
fifty thousand dollars a year in depredation reimbursements for mountain lions.
If they're taken off the big Game list, that reimbursement

(13:18):
goes away. So not only will they no longer be reimbursed,
which is clearly already a problem if we're paying that much,
but their population will increase and we will see even
more of it. So that's kind of just another unintended
consequence of this that we just will just continue to
see as this starts to cascade.

Speaker 1 (13:38):
Let's go back to the actual initiative, Proposition one twenty seven.
You mentioned the people behind it. This is really kind
of a gateway for them. They want to ban all
hunting in all states, and they're going to do one
species at a time, and they've done this in California.
Now they're going to use Colorado as kind of a
petri dish to continue this effort forward. Is there any
I guess unified effort? Is there money in educating the

(14:02):
people against Proposition one twenty seven Obviously the anti hunting crowd,
the pro one twenty seven have money behind them. Is
there any money behind the anti one twenty seven?

Speaker 2 (14:14):
So I'm actually happy to say that there is, and
this is actually something I'm kind of just relieved to see.
As of about a week and a half ago, ten
days ago, the disparity in funding was was huge. We
had about one point seven million that was funding what's
called tests Aren't trophies, which is interesting since the trophy

(14:35):
hunting isn't even legal. They just use that language knowing
it will you know, evoke that emotion of the voter.
So tests Aren't Trophies is the proponents of this. They've
raised about one point seven million dollars and that actually
hasn't changed a whole lot. On the other side of this,
we have Colorado's Wildlife Deserve Better and that's the opponents

(14:55):
of this, and as of about ten days ago, they'd
only raised about six hundred thousand dollars, so, you know,
less or over a million less than the proponents had.
But as of now they've actually raised about one point
four million, So a lot of money is coming into
this the last minute, which is very good to see
because they are turning it around, and they are doing
a fantastic job trying to educate the public. There's actually

(15:18):
a rally down at the Capital this coming Friday, that is,
you know, an opposition to this, so where hunters will
be coming together, hunters and wildlife advocates. I'm not a
hunter myself, but I'm obviously a huge no on this.
This is a very very important issue, so I am
glad to at least see money coming in on the
opposition side. Now, new financial reports are due tomorrow, so

(15:42):
we'll see how much that changes. But this is going
to be a huge, huge money drop in the next
couple of weeks before the before election day, and people
just really need to one understand the facts behind it
and get rid of the emotion. Understand the facts behind it,
and they need to talk to people about it. If
you're opposed to this, you need to let people know why,

(16:04):
and they absolutely need to vote such such an important,
critical issue.

Speaker 1 (16:09):
It's proposition one two seven. I'm a no, Leslie Hollywood
is a no, and I would encourage you to also
be a know. And again, there's a lot of emotion
perhaps out there if you're not a hunter, but there's
a lot it's not about your emotion. It's about the
facts and about the science, and it's about Colorado parks
and wildlife, and let's let the professionals manage our wildlife
and let's not let the ballot box do that. Leslie Hollywood,

(16:32):
it is a pleasure to have you on as always.
Let's stay in touch on this topic and other things
that are happening around the state in the future. But
Leslie Hollywood, thank you very much. Leslie Hollywood. Talking about
Proposition one two seven, and I am a big know
on that, and I hope many of you will do
the research and be a know on that as well.
And again, even if you're not a hunter, getting the

(16:53):
facts on proposition one two seven, and on my ballot
today because my ballot arrived on Friday, excuse me, Saturday,
I will be voting no on that and depositing that
into the dropbox this afternoon, so I encourage you to
do the research on that also, Proposition one two seven.
All right, ladies and gentlemen, it's time for me to
take a break, and it's time for you to take

(17:15):
a little stretch here, would j But don't go anywhere,
keep it right here. Jimmy Lakey on the radio, Lakey
on the radio, six hundred kcol. Stay right there, six
hundred k col.