Utah is looking for a few good hunters to help trim the state's thriving cougar population.

Studies by biologists with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources found that deer herds in some areas aren't growing because of intense depredation by the big cats. Utah's cougar population is estimated at 3,000 animals, biologists say, and cutting their numbers might help the deer population.

Officials recently announced that, "Hunters who didn't apply for a 1999-2000 limited entry cougar permit, or those who did but didn't draw out, may still hunt cougars during the upcoming season."

Reprinted from Las Vegas Review Journal, December 2, 1999