Colorado Parks and Wildlife Considers Changes to Furbearer Hunting Regulations Amid Ethical Concerns and New Research on miRNA-Specific Argonautes

Colorado Parks and Wildlife is set to review its hunting regulations for 16 furbearer species, including bobcats, in response to growing public concern over current practices. The agency will convene a working group to address ethical and scientific questions, with potential regulation changes considered in 2026. Currently, there are no limits on the number of furbearers that permit holders can kill, leading to concerns about the impact on species and ecosystems. Wildlife advocates are calling for limits on hunting and trapping, citing concerns about inhumane methods and the lack of scientific backing for current management practices. A citizen petition has also been submitted, requesting enhanced data collection through mandatory submissions of lower jaw bones for bobcats and submissions for swift foxes and beavers. In separate research, a study using C. elegans has identified dipeptidyl peptidase DPF-3 as an interacting partner of miRNA-specific Argonautes. The study demonstrates that DPF-3 physically and genetically interacts with the miRNA pathway, and that its knockout suppresses alg-1 loss-of-function defects both at the phenotypical and molecular level. The research also shows that DPF-3 regulates ALG-2 protein level and its ability to compensate for miRNA function in the absence of its paralog ALG-1.