(The Center Square) - Hunting and trapping mountain lions, bobcats and lynx remains legal in Colorado.

Colorado voters rejected a ballot question that would have banned big cat hunting. The no side led the yes side 55.5 percent to 45.5 percent, with 78 percent of the vote counted, according to The Associated Press

If the measure passed, the measure would have issued various penalties to those caught hunting protected species, including jail time, fines, and loss of hunting licenses.

An organization called Cats Aren't Trophies spearheaded the ballot initiative.

Sam Miller, the organization's campaign director, called for more modest big cat protections amid Proposition 127's defeat.

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He called on the Colorado Parks and Wildlife to ban the use of dogs in mountain lion hunting, plus the use of baited traps on bobcats.

“The agency operates at its peril by stonewalling on obvious reforms to protect wild cats,” Miller told The Denver Post. “The vote was anything but a mandate on baiting, trapping, and hounding — it was a vote of deference to the agency to take action itself.”

In the run-up to the election, Cats Aren't Trophies contended that hunting and trapping big cats in Colorado is cruel and no different than the controversial trophy hunting of exotic wild animals in Africa.

"If Colorado voters could register their disapproval of American trophy hunters killing African lions in Zimbabwe or Tanzania or South Africa, they would do so in droves," Cats Aren't Trophies wrote in a November 4 Facebook post. "There’s little difference in shooting our American lions in Colorado. The African lions only recently secured threatened and endangered status, and preceding that federal action, Americans had no appetite for these trophy-killing expeditions."

The Sportsmen's Alliance strongly opposed Proposition 127 and celebrated its defeat.

“We’re celebrating the rejection of animal extremist ideologies in Colorado and the clear recognition of the fundamental rights to hunt and fish in Florida,” Evan Heusinkveld, President and Chief Executive Officer at the Sportsmen’s Alliance, said in a statement posted to the organization's website. “Voters have made it clear that our traditions are scientifically-sound and fully supported by the public."

The ballot question came about after the Democratic-controlled state legislature failed to advance a bill along these lines in 2022.