The Arizona Game and Fish Department's controversial decision to track and kill three mountain lions in Sabino Canyon is evoking angry reactions from members of the UA community.
Professors, students and UA employees have joined thousands of people from across the state, condemning the decision. They say killing the lions, which were spotted by hikers, is unnecessary and rash.
"I detest the decision," said Jean Paul Jorquera, a senior support systems analyst for the Disability Resource Center. "I am completely against it."
Lori Prucha, an assistant specialist in the College of Public Health, said she was angry because the public wasn't given a chance to voice its opinion before the decision was made.
"There hasn't been enough public forum on the decision to kill them," she said.
Game and Fish Department officials say killing the animals is necessary because they do not seem to be afraid of humans and have reportedly growled at hikers. Sabino Canyon has been closed as hunters track down the animals.
Although William Mannan, a professor of wildlife and fisheries science, agreed that the lions could be dangerous, he said killing the mountain lions is not the right way to deal with them.
Mannan said that because mountain lions are territorial animals, the lions that are killed will be replaced by other lions.
"If this is a good territory, other animals will take their place almost immediately," he said.
Prucha said it was "hypocritical" and wrong to kill the lions, because they are an integral part of the wilderness environment of the canyon.
"They have more of a right to be there than we do," she said.
Relocating the lions has been suggested by animal rights activists as an alternative to killing them. Game and Fish Department officials say that option is not viable because the mountain lions would not
survive in another environment. They say there is a good chance the lions would be killed by other lions already inhabiting the area.
Jorquera said he thinks it is worth the risk to relocate the lions.
"Relocating the animals at least plants the possibility that they will not die. Shooting them is 100 percent sure," he said.
Mannan suggested "harassing" the animals as another alternative, to make them more afraid of humans.
"That way they'll stop thinking of humans as something to eat and start thinking of them as something to stay away from," he said.
Prucha criticized the UA for not getting involved in finding an alternative.
"We're not using the brain power of the university to find an alternative," she said.
Game and Fish Department officials told the Arizona Daily Star it plans to send the bodies of the mountain lions to the UA so researchers can look for physiological clues that might explain their behavior.
- The Associated Press contributed to this report