DENVER— The Center for Biological Diversity today released a report warning that Colorado is flying blind on wildlife killing because the state doesn’t require basic reporting on pine martens, ringtails, foxes and other animals, even as hunters and trappers kill unlimited numbers each year.

Under current rules, a Colorado resident can hunt or trap an unlimited number of animals labeled “furbearers” after purchasing a permit for about $35. A nonresident can do the same for $100. Colorado Parks and Wildlife does not record population data for most species and has no reporting requirements for 16 of 17 furbearer species. This makes it impossible to know how many of these animals hunters and trappers kill each year.

“Colorado’s unlimited furbearer trapping program is like selling tickets to a Broncos game without knowing how many seats are in the stadium,” said Samantha Miller, a senior carnivore campaigner at the Center. “We don’t know if Colorado has thousands of foxes or a dwindling population, yet trappers are still allowed to kill as many as they want and sell the fur for profit. State wildlife officials have to rein in this unlimited killing.”

Today’s report, Moving to Modernize: Five Steps to Update Colorado’s Furbearer Management, provides a roadmap for commonsense updates. It comes after Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s furbearer stakeholder process failed to deliver meaningful, science-based policy changes.

The Center’s report recommends five steps to modernize ethical management like updating hunting and trapping regulations by banning the use of artificial light, which gives hunters an unfair advantage, increases wounding loss and disrupts nocturnal wildlife.

It also recommends protecting Colorado’s ecosystems through mechanisms like prohibiting beaver trapping in areas of wildfire risk because beavers are excellent at mitigating the impacts of increasing wildfires.

The report also notes that Colorado Parks and Wildlife commissioned a comprehensive analysis in 1994 documenting serious deficiencies in furbearer oversight, yet almost none of those science-based recommendations have been implemented. The state still allows an unlimited trapping season lasting four to six months each fall and winter without bag limits, quotas or required data collection.

“There are limits on how many squirrels someone can kill, but not on martens, mink or beavers,” said Miller. “Even cottontail rabbits are capped at 20 a season, yet with a single furbearer license you can walk out your door and kill as many bobcats as you want. That lack of basic limits and accountability is completely out of line with how Colorado Parks and Wildlife manages other species and it must change.”