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Cougars
Continued from Page 1A
and Corvallis.
“When you see them showing up in
urban areas, it’s likely that better habi-
tat was occupied and they are trying to
find a place that works for them,” said
Derek Broman, carnivore coordinator
for the Oregon Department of Fish and
Wildlife.
Environmental groups and some bi-
ologists disagree. They say ODFW in-
flates the number of animals in the
state. And they say Oregon’s policy is
trigger-happy, creating more problems.
“A lot of cougar mothers are getting
killed,” said Dr. John W. Laundré, a pro-
fessor at Western Oregon University
and a board member of the nonprofit
environmental group Predator Defense.
“Baby kittens who are orphaned don’t
get the training they need, and end up
causing the trouble.”
There’s no evidence of a wild cougar
attacking a human in Oregon, but there
have been a handful of examples of fatal
cougar attacks across the West.
Almost driven to extinction
Cougars were once abundant in Ore-
gon, but similar to other predators, such
as wolves, that started to change with
the arrival of settlers in the 1800s.
Before Oregon was even an official
state, bounties were placed on cougars.
The bounty was $10 per animal in 1911
and $25 by 1925.
“The most effective and devastating
method was poison,” Broman said.
The number of animals dropped
sharply to an estimated 200 by the
1960s.
But, unlike wolves, cougars never
went extinct in Oregon. A few pockets
remained, mostly in the southwest and
northeast.
“My belief is that unlike wolves,
which are pack animals and easier to
find, cougars are solitary and prefer
really difficult terrain for humans,” Bro-
man said. “They likely persisted be-
cause there were pockets of them where
humans just couldn’t reach.”
In 1967 cougars were declared a
“game animal” and subject to regulation
by state officials. Bag limits were estab-
lished for hunting cougars, which al-
lowed their numbers to rebound to
around 2,000 animals by 1987, accord-
ing to ODFW.
Too many cougars?
Once the number of cougars re-
bounded, their numbers continued to
expand into just about any place with a
food source — mainly, deer and elk.
The number of cougars increased to
an estimated 6,400 to 6,500 today, ac-
cording to ODFW.
“It really is a success story,” ODFW’s
Broman said. “Our cougar population is
very healthy.”
Laundré disagrees with ODFW’s
population estimates. He said the agen-
cy tends to inflate the numbers. By
counting every kitten, cougar passing
through, and even animals that don’t re-
main in the state, it inflates the esti-
mates 30 to 40 percent he said.
“It’s similar to if they reported deer
populations right after fawns were born.
They don't do this because we know
many of these young will die,” Laundré
said. “It’s misleading, but fits into
ODFW's purpose because the higher
number of cougars they report, the more
they can justify the high number killed
by sportsman.”
Broman said the population esti-
mates were all based on data gathered
in the field, and might actually underes-
timate cougar populations in some
parts of the state.
Cougar growth in
the Willamette Valley
The last place for cougars to spread,
Broman said, has been into Oregon’s
populous northwest and coast, where
the number of cougars has increased 27
percent during the last decade, to al-
most 1,000 animals, according to
ODFW.
The problem is that human popula-
tions in the Willamette Valley also are
expanding, bringing additional conflict
especially in outlying towns such as
Dallas, Silverton, Cottage Grove and
Corvallis.
“You have the growing population of
cougars, but you also have their prey,
like deer and turkeys, that are increas-
ingly learning to live in urban and sub-
urban areas,” said Jim Akenson, a for-
mer cougar biologist now with the Ore-
gon Hunters Association. “That kind of
pulls cougars into these areas.”
Broman said the biggest areas of con-
flict are in small farms in the Coast
Range and Cascade Foothills.
“There are so many of these small
hobby farms with free-range chickens
and goats that are prime pickings for
cougar,” he said.
It remains rare for cougars to go
strolling down Main Street, but it has
become an increased issue, said Polk
County Sheriff Mark Garton.
A cougar was spotted in Dallas City
Park multiple times last spring, another
went up a tree last week on Brownsville
Road.
“It’s on our radar more often, and
people are telling us they’re seeing more
activity,” Garton said. “But it’s not an
overwhelming problem. People in this
area tend to take care of the issue by
themselves.”
Who’s allowed to kill
a cougar, and when?
Oregon killed 544 cougars in 2016,
with the two highest reasons being
hunting (267) and those taken due to
conflict with livestock and humans
(169).
Environmental groups and some bi-
ologists say killing cougars actually cre-
ates more problems, and point to Cali-
fornia’s laws as a better model for suc-
cess.
While the hunting side is simple
enough — a yearly limit is set in each re-
gion based on population — conflict
deaths are more complex.
edge developed habitats and was
spooked up a tree to seek refuge,” Bro-
man said. “Without any other informa-
tion available, that sounds like non-
threatening behavior and we’d hope
they left and never showed back up
again.
“Cougars are by nature secretive and
tend to turn around when they reach ur-
ban areas.”
Problematic cases arrive when a cat
has ventured deep into urban areas, and
is seen repeatedly.
“The animal would have stopped one
or two blocks into town had it truly
feared humans and our concrete jun-
gle,” Broman said.
That’s more or less what happened in
The Dalles, where a cougar was euthan-
ized after showing up in a hotel room
under construction, and in Silverton,
when the cougar was euthanized after
showing up at The Oregon Garden and a
person’s backyard.
Why don’t officials relocate
the animals, instead
of euthanizing them?
As a general rule, ODFW officials
said, they try to give cougars every op-
portunity to leave town before taking
action.
But if there are repeated sightings
and concerning behaviors, they will
typically euthanize the animal. Reloca-
tion is not a common strategy.
The reason, said Broman, is that a
cougar used to getting a meal from a
backyard or by attacking livestock is
likely to repeat that behavior.
“If we relocated an animal with those
red flags, and it did it again, the state
would be liable,” he said. “It’s also likely
we relocate it into another cougar’s ter-
ritory, which wouldn’t end well.”
Cougars that might have just been in
the “wrong place, wrong time” can be
relocated, but it doesn’t happen often.
“Capturing cougars is enormously
difficult and has a low probability of
success,” Broman said.
“The decision to euthanize isn’t
something we take lightly, but in many
cases it might be the more humane
choice. Ultimately, these situations
don’t have a big impact on the cougar
population.”
California kills fewer cougars
Livestock damage
leads to cougar deaths
If a cougar attacks livestock, Oregon
law allows the landowner to kill the cou-
gar, through a wide variety of means. No
permit or permission is required, but the
landowner must report the death to
Oregon State Police.
In the last five years, an average of 165
cougars were killed each year for the
“damage” reason, according to ODFW.
The problem is growing fastest in Ore-
gon's northwest and coast.
“If cougars have learned that chick-
ens are easy pickin's, they can’t unlearn
it,” Broman said.
Broman said OSP can investigate if a
story about a cougar being killed doesn’t
add up or raises red flags, and can issue
a citation.
Environmental groups have strongly
criticized Oregon’s policy in allowing so
many cougars to be killed.
They say officials are too quick to
euthanize animals under the banner of
“human safety,” even though cougars
have little history of attacking humans.
“There’s no reason for Oregonians to
worry about being attacked by a cougar
— it doesn’t happen here,” Laundré said.
“Deer kill far more people than cougars
by being on the highway and getting hit
by a car. Should we wipe out every deer
seen near a road?”
Laundré touted California’s rules in
dealing with cougars. Voters banned
cougar hunting in 1990 and anyone
seeking to kill one — usually following
livestock attacks — has to obtain a “dep-
redation permit.”
Despite that, California’s cougar pop-
ulation is similar to Oregon — an esti-
mated 4,000 to 6,000 animals. Califor-
nia also kills fewer cougars for conflict
reasons, according to state data.
“California has to be the standard,”
Laundré said. “They kill fewer animals
and have lower numbers of problems. In
Oregon, we kill all of these animals and
still don’t get the results we want.
“All the data indicates that the more
cougars you kill, the more problems that
you have.”
Broman said he understands that ar-
gument, but noted that many of Ore-
gon's problem cougars are adults, and
even mothers, rather than just juve-
niles.
He also noted that Oregon has had
zero recorded cougar attacks on hu-
mans. California has had three fatal at-
tacks and 10 non-fatal attacks.
Colorado, which does allow hunting,
also has had three fatal cougar attacks.
Staying safe in cougar country
There are a number of measures Ore-
gonians living in cougar country can
take to avoid conflict.
ODFW suggests keeping pets indoors
at night and not leaving food outside.
They discourage feeding animals, such
as deer, in your backyard, because that
could lure in a cougar.
If you see a cougar, make yourself
large and loud, and don’t run away,
while also giving the animal a way to es-
cape.
Swanson, who saw the cougar in Sil-
verton, said the goal is finding a bal-
ance.
“I do feel we need to respect a wild
animal’s habitat and need for survival,”
she said.
“At the same time, I am fully aware of
the need to protect humans and their
children, pets and livestock.”
Zach Urness has been an outdoors
writer, photographer and videographer
in Oregon for 10 years. He is the author of
the book “Hiking Southern Oregon” and
can be reached at zurness@Statesman-
Journal.com or (503) 399-6801. Find
him on Twitter at @ZachsORoutdoors.
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Human safety concern
The most high-profile and controver-
sial cougar deaths typically fall under
the “human safety or pets” category.
These usually include cases where a
cougar shows up in an urban area and
kills a pet or appears to have lost its fear
of humans.
In the last five years, an average of 28
cougars have been killed for this reason
in Oregon.
Broman said there are two categories
wildlife officials look at to determine
whether the cougar can be left alone, or
needs to be euthanized.
The “wrong place, wrong time” defi-
nition typically applies when a cougar is
found up a tree on the outskirts of town.
“You can imagine that in that situa-
tion, the cougar was traveling on the
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