PIERRE, S.D., Sept. 28 (UPI) -- A conservation group has filed a lawsuit to block South Dakota's first-ever mountain lion hunting season, set to open Saturday.
The California-based Mountain Lion Foundation says the season is not based on sound science and could lead to the extermination of the state's mountain-lion population.
"We're saying it (the season) could lead to extinction," MLF President Lynn Sadler told the Rapid City Journal. "We're saying this hunt, this year, could be enough to wipe them out."
The South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks Commission approved the state lion season last month.
The state estimates there are about 140 mountain lions -- about 10 of them adult males with established territories -- in South Dakota's portion of the Black Hills. There are additional lions scattered throughout West River prairies, the newspaper said.
The season would open Saturday and run through Dec. 15, but it would end sooner if hunters killed a total of 25 lions or five breeding-age female lions.
