O.R.C.

The food-chain is critical to bio-diversity. Big predators keep the populations of smaller predators in line, helping keep small animals alive. Big predators keep populations of large herbivores in line, helping keep grasslands and forests intact. But here in Cascadia, the powers-that-ought-not-be are reinstituting a massive cougar hunting campaign, citing an increased number of human-cougar interactions (despite the remarkably few number of fatal attacks). According to numerous sources, there has never been a fatal cougar attack in Oregon.

But excessive cougar hunting appears to actually increase the number of cougar attacks on humans; predator behavior is learned, and dead mature males cannot teach restraint to younger males.

But all of that science nonsense aside, there is property to protect. In Oregon, a bill was passed allowing Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to deputize hunters (yes, that’s right, make them cops) so that they can hunt cougars with dogs. The Oregon cougar hunting open-season is now year-round, expecting to result in the death of thousands of cats, or about 1/3 of the current cougar population. They lowered the cost of a cougar-hunting license to a paltry $11.50 in 2006, sending the number of cougar deaths skyrocketing.

Parties responsible for this bill include Governor Kulongoski, who signed House Bill 2971 last year, Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee Chairman, Brad Avakian (D-NE Washington and NW Multnomah Counties), who pushed the bill through his committee, and the majority of the House for passing the bill. Don’t forget Ron Anglin, Wildlife Division Administrator for the ODFW, whose contact can be found over here.

The hound hunters (one pictured here from Utah) use the hounds to chase the cougar into a tree, where it is easily picked off. These days, the hounds are followed by GPS and radio-frequency collars. Note that these systems are not necessarily secure from hacking or interference [more].

To date, there have been no reported counts of hunt sabotaging of cougar hunts in Oregon, although it would not surprise anyone if this changed.