Citing a Washington State University study that says it may, Big Wildlife, an international wildlife protection organization, says it has formally petitioned Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and the FWP Commission to ban the hunting and hounding of cougars in Montana.
While the agency has seen Big Wildlife’s press release, FWP spokesman Ron Aasheim said Wednesday it has not yet received a formal petition asking the commission to consider a ban on cougar hunting.
“It’s a very public process,” Aasheim said, “that would include public input. The commission and department would take it under consideration, and the commission decides if it wants to enact any changes.”
Big Wildlife spokesman Brian Vincent said Wednesday the organization has made similar requests in Washington and Oregon.
“The reason we’re involved is because of a pretty critical report released recently by Washington State University that says cougar populations are struggling, due to liberalized hunting and aggressive lethal control,” Vincent said.
That study, by Robert Wielgus, director of WSU’s Large Carnivore Conservation Laboratory, found that killing large numbers of cougars creates social chaos among the species.
Hunters often target adult males, which act as a stabilizing force in cougar populations, Wielgus told the Seattle Times. The adults police large territories and drive out or kill young males.
With the adults gone, the “young hooligans” run wild, according to Wielgus.
Most cougar conflicts with humans turn out to be cats under the age of 2, who are just learning to live on their own.
Big Wildlife also called mountain lions a “keystone species” that helps sustain ecological integrity and preserve species diversity by contributing to the regulation of deer, elk and other animal populations.
For more information, read Thursday's Missoulian or go to Missoulian.com.
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Melvin Leppla wrote on Dec 6, 2008 8:08 AM:
" The point of this issue is not the fact that the various groups actually care about the Cougars let alone know what a Cougar looks like but the the ability to take the freedom to hunt Cougars away from another group.
The Cougars are just another political pawn in the game of boxing in and eliminating hunting and firearms.
This legal and political tactic was extremely successful when used by the ant-smoking advocates when they attacked the Tobacco Industry. "
The Cougars are just another political pawn in the game of boxing in and eliminating hunting and firearms.
This legal and political tactic was extremely successful when used by the ant-smoking advocates when they attacked the Tobacco Industry. "
Maggie wrote on Dec 9, 2008 9:43 PM:
" Setting aside feelings of quotas for a moment, let us take a lesson as learned from the state of California! They no longer allow hunting of lions and no chase season either. Lo and behold they have frequent attacks on joggers, bicyclists, you name it. I recall not long ago school kids being on lock down because a lion was spotted very close to the school grounds. While they had umpteen sheriff's deputies scouring the area they had to wait for the "all clear" to go home. Let's assume a lion was spotted near a MT school, well, because we have a season on lions there are numerous individuals a phone call away with lion hounds that would have the problem lion treed in minutes. Then he could be eliminated OR relocated. Hmmm, we don't usually have to do that though do we? Now back to quotas...They are adjusted, albeit not necessarily quickly enough sometimes, for the population of the lions. And as any species of wildlife they are subject to cyclical trends in numbers. So let's not get rash here...let's just adjust and maintain our fortunate Montana lifestyle, keeping hunting/trapping traditions alive! "
tim southwell wrote on Dec 3, 2008 9:55 PM: