Is cougar hunting breeding chaos? (Bogus study?)

The Seattle Times ^ | March 16, 2007 | Sandi Doughton

[jazusamo]

Now, the predator powerful enough to take down a bull elk is lying helpless under a tent of fir trees while Maletzke replaces the batteries in her radio collar, checks her teeth and measures her girth.

Jane is part of a healthy cougar population that lives in relative harmony with its human neighbors in the rapidly growing communities just east of Snoqualmie Pass.

In the past six years, Jane has killed deer less than 50 paces from homes — yet residents don't even realize she's there. She has never harmed pets or livestock, nor have any of her offspring.

The story is different in northeastern Washington, where the state has stepped up hunting in response to soaring numbers of complaints about cougars, including two attacks on toddlers. A bill signed by Gov. Christine Gregoire last week could expand the cougar killing.

But startling results from studies such as Maletzke's question this traditional approach to cougar management.

Instead of reducing conflicts between cougars and humans, heavy hunting seems to make the problems worse, says Robert Wielgus, Maletzke's graduate adviser and director of Washington State University's Large Carnivore Conservation Laboratory.

"It goes against the grain of what we've been doing for decades," Wielgus says.

Killing large numbers of cougars creates social chaos, Wielgus and his students found. Trophy hunters often target adult males, which act as a stabilizing force in cougar populations. The adults police large territories and kill or drive out young males. With the grown-ups gone, the "young hooligans" run wild, Wielgus says.

"Every time you kill a dominant male, about three of these young guys come for the funeral."

Evidence suggests cougars under two years of age, just learning to live on their own, account for the majority of run-ins with people and domestic animals...

[jazusamo]

The agency also is weighing the research that suggests heavy hunting may aggravate cougar problems but is waiting for more solid evidence, Martorello says.

Thankfully the DFW is going to wait for more solid evidence since the study was conducted by or people sympathetic to anti hunting nuts and animal rights activists.

For these people to say that killing the animals adds to the chance of cougar-people encounters is a stretch of the imagination, IMO.

[Inyo-Mono]

[JennysCool]

They’re the same people who say you don’t fight terrorism because you might make the terrorists mad.

[jazusamo]

Evidence suggests cougars under two years of age, just learning to live on their own, account for the majority of run-ins with people and domestic animals

I believe that's been established in many studies in the past but it's due to the younger cougars being forced into more populated areas by mature cougars. It happens when cougar numbers increase and more people move into rural areas.

Cougar numbers are increasing according to WA DFW in latest numbers I found (August, 1999).

Cougars, also known as mountain lions or pumas, are native to Washington state. About 2,500 live in this state, double the populations of the early 1980s, and their numbers are growing.

Fact Sheet - Cougars

[jazusamo]

Good pic, I-M, thanks for posting.

[jazusamo]

You’re probably correct, WA state has more than our share of moonbats.

[Perdogg]

I hunt cougars every Saturday night. Or better yet, they hunt me. ;)

[Inyo-Mono]

Here is another one that was darted by wildlife officials about two miles from my house.

[mysterio]

I thought by definition it was the cougars who were doing the hunting. I see that a lot when I go out to the bars.

[jazusamo]

Nothing wrong with your kind of Cougar hunting. :)

[jazusamo]

Don't know if you saw this. The cougar is at Jet Propulsion Lab near Pasadena, CA. Pic taken by an employee on a walk bridge.

[Inyo-Mono]

I did! Saw that here on FR a while back. Scary picture.

[jdm]

LOL

[Bob]

I thought by definition it was the cougars who were doing the hunting. I see that a lot when I go out to the bars.

Now that I've hit the big six-oh, the whole idea of cougar hunting in bars has really lost a lot of its appeal. :=)

[John Will]

Try being 23 and 6’6”. Take a guess about how many times I get hit on by cougars in bars.

[Bob]

Try being 23 and 6’6”. Take a guess about how many times I get hit on by cougars in bars.

At 60, I stopped having that 'problem' many, many years ago.

[girlangler]

Last year I was ghostwriting a weekly column for an Oklahoma newspaper, and one of the columns was about the OK legislature giving approval for the WL agency there to establish a cougar hunting season.

The agency feels enough of these cougars are moving back into the state to prepare for management seasons.

Cougars are increasing in number, and their ranges are moving across state lines.

[cherry]

this is such BS....large numbers of cougars are not being killed and I can't see any hunter looking only for "trophy" cougars...its rare enough to see a cougar let alone get a shot let alone get a large animal....

"trophy" cougars....never heard of such a thing...

btw ...cougars and bears have for years been desimating elk herds in southeastern Washington....they attack the fawns.....

wolves will probably take over the killing of the elk fawns as their population increases....

wild predators need to be afraid of humans and human activity....when they are fearful, they stay away, far away, and can live their lives as the wild animals they are supposed to be....

[cherry]

those are great pics....love your bio as well...

[Inyo-Mono]

Thank you!