"The Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission has approved a plan to kill some mountain lions and black bears.

It's part of a plan the commission hopes will decrease the number of predators to help boost the state's mule deer population.

Under the plan, state wildlife crews will capture and kill up to 15 mountain lions and 25 black bears each year in the Piceance Basin of northwest Colorado. beginning in the spring of 2017.

The state said it would also pay $435,000 per year for a nine-year study of the "effects of mountain lion population density on mule deer populations.""

Rebecca Hersher reports for NPR December 15, 2016. [2]