Smoke signals., June 01, 2016, Page 7, Image 7

S moke S ignals
JUNE 1, 2016
7
Cougar killed in rare daytime car accident
By Brent Merrill
Smoke Signals staff writer
Cougars live in the Grand Ronde
area, but rarely are they seen or
hit by a car on the highway during
daylight hours.
An adult 145-pound male cougar
was hit and killed in the corridor on
Highway 18 at milepost 16.5 (sum-
mit of Murphy Hill) on Wednesday,
May 18. One of the drivers involved
called in the incident right after it
happened at about 10:30 a.m.
Grand Ronde Tribal Police Sgt.
Tim Hernandez responded to the
call and was irst on the scene. Her-
nandez was soon joined by oficers
from Polk County Animal Control
and Oregon State Police.
Grand Ronde Police Chief Jake
McKnight said Hernandez and the
other responding oficers loaded the
cougar in the back of the Animal
Control truck and brought it to the
Tribal Police Department adjacent
Courtesy photo by Sgt. Tim Hernandez
to Spirit Mountain Casi-
This 145-pound adult male cougar was stuck by a
no. Oregon State Police
vehicle and killed at milepost 16.5 (summit of Murphy
then transported the
Hill) on Highway 18 on Wednesday, May 18. At left,
cougar to the Oregon
this photo shows the size of one of the paws of the
Department of Fish and
cougar that died after being struck by a vehicle on
Wildlife ofice in Corval-
Highway 18.
lis for testing.
“This is the irst time
“It’s super rare,” said Belonga.
McKnight
I’ve ever gone to a call
“I’m sure they are existing in and
and Hernan-
about a cougar,” said
around the Reservation all the
dez also said
Polk County Animal
time. We just never see them be-
t
h
e
y
h
a
v
e
Control Deputy John
cause it’s super thick and brushy
never
seen
Courtesy photo by Kelly Dirksen
Kincaid. “Normally they
and they are elusive.”
a
cougar
hit
are pretty nocturnal so
Belonga said for an adult male to
by
a
car.
this is unusual.”
be crossing the highway during the
“Sgt. Hernandez has been doing
Kincaid, who has been in his
day is rare.
this for a long time and he lived in
current position with the Sheriff’s
“It’s hard to pinpoint why it was
the Bend area for most of his police
Office for 15 years, said he sees
trying
to cross the highway or what
life
and
he’s
never
heard
of
one
bobcats, coyotes and bear routinely,
it
was
up to, but it seems like we
being
hit
by
a
car,”
said
McKnight.
but not cougars.
have
been
noticing that there is
“I
think
it
is
super
rare
especially
“They have been getting kind of
some daytime movement both with
during the day because they are a
bold lately in Polk County,” said
sightings and trail cameras,” said
nighttime animal.”
Kincaid. “People have been seeing
Belonga.
Tribal Wildlife Biologist Lindsay
them in the daytime, but this is the
At the request of McKnight, Be-
Belonga
was
notiied
of
the
cougar
irst one I’ve seen in the daytime.”
longa
worked with Conservation
being
hit
and
immediately
went
to
Kincaid said an eastbound truck
and
Regulation
Specialist Nancy
work
with
multiple
agencies
to
se-
irst struck the cougar.
Taylor
of
the
Oregon
Department
cure
the
cat’s
remains
for
the
Tribe.
“It went up in the air and a west-
of Fish and Wildlife ofice in Cor-
Belonga also said that cougar
bound vehicle took it right in the
vallis to secure the cat’s remains.
sightings in this area don’t happen
windshield,” said Kincaid. “The irst
Taylor registered the permit form
very often.
vehicle continued on and didn’t stop.”
in McKnight’s name.
“I just didn’t want it to go to
waste,” said McKnight, who had
the cougar sent to a taxidermist
in Lincoln City. “It was out of our
Trask Unit. I think it’s important
that we were able to preserve that
animal as much as possible.”
The cougar will ind a new home
in the Grand Ronde Tribal Police
Department.
Belonga said she worked with
Fish and Wildlife Committee mem-
ber Tyson Mercier to ind the taxi-
dermist.
Mercier called a taxidermist he
knew in Lincoln City who would
take the cat right away. Mercier
was in touch with Mike Downing
of Memories Taxidermist Studio.
Downing has been in business for
25 years.
Mercier, who is a lifelong hunter,
said he has never seen a cougar in
person.
“I’ve never seen one in my many
journeys,” said Mercier. “I’ve had
trail cameras set up for probably
the last 10 years and I’ve had one
picture of a cougar in those 10
years.”
Downing said this was third cou-
gar he had worked on but the irst
one that had been hit by a car.
“It’s pretty unusual for an adult,”
said Downing. “An adult will usu-
ally go across the road so fast you
won’t even see it.”
Oregon State Police Lt. Casey
Thomas of the Fish and Wildlife
Division responds to these types of
calls and said he has never been to
a call of a cougar being hit by a car
during his career.
“I can’t think of any other time
that I have responded to a road-
struck cougar off the top of my
head,” said Thomas, who has
worked for the State Police for 11
years. “I can confidently say it’s
pretty rare.”
Thomas, who supervises Fish
and Wildlife troopers in Astoria,
Newport, Tillamook, Portland,
McMinnville, Salem and Albany,
said he was impressed with how the
situation was handled by everyone
involved.
“It was great inter-agency coop-
eration and Sgt. Hernandez of the
Tribal Police Department and the
Polk County Sheriff’s Ofice were
just great,” said Thomas. “Everyone
worked really well together on it.”
Thomas said his main focus in
responding is always to make sure
the remains get to Taylor and the
biologists at the Department of
Fish and Wildlife so they can collect
useful information.
Taylor said there have been six
cougars reported killed on Oregon
highways so far this year. This one
makes seven.
Taylor, who has 30 years of expe-
rience in conservation work, said
cougar populations are increasing
and that the deal worked out allow-
ing for the remains of the cougar to
stay with the Tribe is what’s most
rare in all of this.
“You guys are kind of a rare enti-
ty because we don’t normally have
an organization that has super ed-
ucational purposes that are coming
to us,” said Taylor. “We can release
them for educational purposes.
Most of the times in this situation
we keep them and dispose of them. “
Belonga said the relationship
between the Tribe and the Depart-
ment of Fish and Wildlife continues
to advance in beneicial ways for
both organizations.
“ODFW is really good about work-
ing with us,” said Belonga. “We’re
usually working as a collaborative
team to make stuff happen.” 
Need something notarized?
Tribal Court staff is available at no charge for notaries 8 a.m. to
5 p.m. Monday though Friday with the exception of noon to 1 p.m.
Please be sure to bring a photo ID with you.
If you have any questions, contact the court at 503-879-2303. 
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