Wildlife officers forced to kill five cougars in neighborhood
I just picked this up off the wire.
“SISTERS, Ore. (AP) — Wildlife officers have killed five cougars recently in a Sisters subdivision where the animals were hunting for food and getting on decks.
The cougars are believed to be a mother and four of her young.
Federal predator control officers killed three cougars estimated at 18 to 20 months old on March 18. The mother and a juvenile male were killed Thursday.
KTVZ-TV reported Monday (http://bit.ly/GRxdqV) the killings followed reports of a cougar seen with a domestic cat in its mouth, several other sightings, the loss of chickens and attacks on two dogs.
A spokeswoman for the Oregon wildlife agency, Michelle Dennehy, says problem cougars aren’t relocated because that would just move the problem elsewhere.”
My brother’s best friend, Tyler Hoyt, lives in Sisters, a cool mountain town in the Cascades. I sent Tyler an email asking how close this was to his house. His answer: “a quarter mile.” He added that he never sees cougars.
I told him people around here see cougars all the time, and we don’t even have any.
April 3, 2012 - 12:49 PM
Wow. That’s the best the “Conservation Officers” could do is pull the trigger on these five cougars? Hard to believe there was not a place in the whole of Oregon that these animals couldn’t have lived out there lives without becoming a nuisance to someone else. Sadly, there will come a day when Oregon is just like Virginia….cougarless.
It’s too bad that it had to end that way, but it was probably the best option.
It’s true that Oregon has some remote areas with few residents. But relocating wildlife is tricky, especially when the critters have become habituated to humans. We see it around here with bears all the time. Once a bear figures out “Hey, this bird feeder tastes good. And it’s easy to catch,” it’s going to keep going back to bird feeders. Those cougars had apparently developed a taste for domestic pets, and those are sure a lot easier to catch than mule deer.
Then there is the cost issue. Capturing and transferring five cougars across a great distance is not going to be cheap. It’s unfortunate that cost has to be an issue, but it’s a reality. So, do you spend $$$ that could be used to stock trout, or maybe catch some serial poachers, or on something that is probably going to fail?
As for a cougarless Oregon, it’s unlikely. The cougar population boomed when the state caved to animal activists and banned cougar hunting with hounds. Although the law has since been overturned and limited hound hunting is allowed, the state has plenty of the cats.
So, the state caves to animal rights (insert derisive term here)and ipso facto, it’s a cat eat cat world out there!
Sad but true Mark, the bullets to kill them were much cheaper than a full blown, costly relocation project. But can we ever really measure the cost if that day comes when they are all gone? As avid hunters and outdoorsmen I think we all need to take a conservative look at what we take from the field in respect to future generations. If we are not good stewards of it there may come a day when there is little reason to go afield.
“Every creature is of more value alive than dead, be it man, moose or pine tree…and he who learns this aright will preserve it’s life rather than take it.
Henry David Thoreau
Food for thought the next time we consider taking these creatures from the field because they have become a nuisance or just to hang them on our wall.
Huntersdad — I hear you loud and clear. The key is to avoid getting to this point. Not knowing full details about that Oregon case, I can’t comment regarding to what level humans might have contributed to the habituation of those cougars. But we all know that humans are often at fault in the case of nuisance wildlife because we create or contribute to situations that change the behavior of wildlife.
I just got a submitted trailcam shot of a big bear in a guy’s back yard, near a bird feeder. That guy should probably pull his feeders, and any other food, for months, to keep that bear from coming back. But that’s a bummer for him. And what if he has a garden? Does he need build a bear-proof fence? It’s a balancing act, and not an easy one.
Very sad, but if you saw a cougar on your deck while the grand kids were visiting, I’m pretty sure you would shoot as well.
Saw a cougar just this morning at the store putting gas in her car.
Used to fish and camp up in the three creeks lake area outside Sisters. It was not rare to find tracks or hear cougar. Too bad they had to be killed though I understand the safety aspect. Once they lose their fear it is inevitable that there are problems.
I hope the meat wasn’t wasted. I hear they are great.
There is no such thing as a bear proof fence. But bears are lazy and I’ve only had one push down the 8 foot high orchard fence and none get into the garden. If you live anywhere there are bears you already have a deer problem and already have a deer fence around your garden. The bears seem content with the wild blueberries and raspberries and grubs in fallen trees. And yes, you do need to pull in the bird feeders for most of the year, or just be super erratic in filling them. (that solved my problem with the bears and the raccoons – and I’m more leery of the raccoons since they carry rabies and canine distemper).
Sometimes you just change your behavior. My sister lives well within city limits in Denver, along an old irrigation canal that is now a greenway. One year she had coyotes raise pups in a corner of her tiny yard! She just had her kids stay on the deck or play in the front yard (they were tiny and never outside alone). The city has chosen to just educate the public on how to scare away the coyotes if they are stalking your toy poodle while you are walking on the greenway. Now, my sister also is a wildlife biologist so her idea of “cool things happening in the yard” is a bit different than most folks……. she puts out bird feeders to watch the hawks that hunt the songbirds!
I might react differently if cougars were raising kittens in my yard.
Kevin — Those sightings are fairly common, actually.
Win — Interesting input. That Sisters area is amazing, isn’t it?
Walt — Interesting question. I know sometimes nuisance wildlife meat is donated to food pantries and such.
Patricia — Excellent comment. I just got another set of trailcam shots of a bear nailing a feeder.
Mark, like you I don’t have all the details of the Oregon case, but most likely it come down to safety first and the bottom line being affected by a costly relocation effort. When some agency’s budget is being squeezed those animals become less and less valuable…as the saying goes, it’s all about the money and bullets are cheap.
As far as the bear vs. bird feeder, to me it would be a small price to pay to pull the feeders in order to keep DGIF from having to destroy the animal. In fact its pretty easy to put up bird feeders where bears cannot get to them, such as hanging them from a tree limb where they can’t reach them. It’s all about what value the individual puts on these creatures, and to me personally they are of much greater value than a vegetable garden or a bird feeder.