Cougars a problem
BOB
MOTTRAM; The News Tribune
8/6/03
BELLINGHAM - Washington officials considered only a minor amendment
to a minor detail of the state's public safety cougar removal regulation,
but the subject matter alone - as usual - stimulated citizens to come
out to complain about perceived danger from cougars.
The state Fish and Wildlife Commission met for two days last week,
and on its Friday agenda was a proposal to address who may participate
in public safety cougar removal hunts and what the licensing requirements
for them will be.
The commission had instituted the public safety cougar removal program
in the aftermath of passage in 1996 of an initiative measure that
outlawed hunting cougars and bears with hounds. Following implementation
of the initiative, complaints about predator depredations, particularly
by cougars, increased dramatically.
Under the removal program, the department issues special permits to
qualified hound hunters to pursue and kill a specified number of cougars
in areas in which human-cougar "interactions" have reached
a certain threshold.
On Friday, the commission considered an amendment, which it passed,
to require that such hunters be residents of Washington and that at
the time of application for a permit they possess a valid big game
license with a cougar-hunting endorsement.
That was all the opening some rural delegations needed to bring their
cougar complaints - yet again - before the commission.
"Complaints reoccur in the same areas year in and year out,"
Donny Martorello, bear, cougar and special species manager for the
department, told the commission.
They tend to cluster in the Interstate 5 corridor and in northeastern
Washington and Okanogan County.
The state imposed changes to its cougar-control program in 2000, Martorello
said, making "lethal response" easier, and in the three
years since 1999 the take of cats under the program increased 25 percent,
to 803, compared to the three years prior.
Still, the counties that contain the highest densities of cougars
- Okanogan, Stevens and Ferry - continue to experience serious threats
to public safety, Martorello said.
Among those who testified Friday was Mike Blankenship, county commissioner
from Ferry County.
"I'm here to confirm the fact that the problems still exist,"
he said.
Blankenship cited several cougar attacks on livestock this year in
his county, and said two cougars had stalked a human there. Both cats
were killed.
"I think the department has failed to provide ... safety for
the citizens of the state," he said.
Mary Lou Peterson, county commissioner from Okanogan County, said
problems in her part of the state "continue daily."
Peterson asked the commission to seek authority from the legislature
to establish a hound-hunting pilot program in the three northeastern
counties, in which hunters could pursue and kill cats during regular
seasons.
"We need to have our pursuit season back," she said.
Since hound hunting was banned, cougars no longer are afraid of people
or dogs, Peterson said, and she wants that changed "before we
lose a life. And it's almost happened."
Joel Kretz of Wauconda raises quarter horses in Okanogan County, and
cougars have targeted his animals numerous times. Many of his neighbors
operate under the "shoot, shovel and shut up" system of
cougar management, he said, but he has obeyed the law and can testify
that it doesn't work.
"I don't think you've got the ability to fix this (under terms
of the initiative)," Kretz said. "I don't think it can be
fixed without a regular hound season."
Rhoda Cargill, who lives in the Snohomish County town of Darrington,
said people in her area experience numerous confrontations with cougars,
but few report them because they don't think the state will do anything
about them.
Bob Mottram: 253-597-8640
bob.mottram@mail.tribnet.com