WILLIAMS, OREGON– Today the wildlife advocacy group, Big Wildlife, blasted the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) for proposing to expand its highly controversial cougar "management" plan (CMP) and accused the agency of "willfully misleading the public to promote failed and misguided policies for managing" the big cats. Big Wildlife said the agency should scrap its plan - which calls for killing nearly 2,000 cougars - because it was destabilizing the state's cougar population, causing havoc in natural systems where cougars play critical roles in maintaining ecosystem integrity, and would likely contribute to increased conflicts with the species.
At a Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission hearing last week, the ODFW proposed killing cougars in four more areas in the state. Big Wildlife said instead of killing cougars, the agency should strengthen safeguards for cougars and educate the public about how to avoid conflicts with the animals.
"As many scientists and conservation groups predicted, Oregon's cougar killing plan hasn't reduced conflicts and probably made matters worse. Unbelievably, instead of scrapping the failed plan, the Department of Fish and Wildlife proposes to kill even more cougars," said Brian Vincent, Communications Director with Big Wildlife.
Big Wildlife said the agency's report on the plan to the Commission was filled with inaccuracies, untruths, and misleading statements. For example:
· The agency's claim that cougar numbers in the state are increasing is based on notoriously unreliable methodology for determining cougar populations;
· The ODFW's claim that killing cougars boosts deer and elk populations failed to acknowledge that many factors influence ungulate populations (such as disease, forage conditions, climate, drought, habitat alteration, fluctuations in productivity rates, stress, over hunting, among others) and that cougars play a critical role in regulating healthy populations of deer and elk;
· The Department's claim that killing even more cougars will reduce conflicts flew in the face of a large and growing body of science that shows indiscriminately killing cougars actually increases conflicts;
· The agency's claim that aggressive lethal control in targeted areas had not impacted cougar populations failed to address the impacts such killing has on cougar population dynamics, composition, social structure, age class, and behavior;
· The ODFW's reliance exclusively on killing cougars ignored the effectiveness of non-lethal, preventative methods (e.g. safeguarding domestic farm and ranch animals by penning them at night, erecting proper fencing, using guarding dogs, removing animal carcasses from pastures, bringing pets in at night, properly securing garbage)
Big Wildlife also said the ODFW was shifting its rationale for killing cougars. When the agency initially unveiled the CMP, it said aggressive lethal control of cougars was necessary to reduce conflicts with domestic farm and ranch animals, protect the public, and safeguard companion animals. When the agency's own data showed the plan had not worked as the ODFW had anticipated, it proposed expanding the plan to four new target areas to boost elk and deer populations.
"Its time to pull the plug on the cougar killing plan," said Vincent.
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To read a comprehensive analysis of the cougar killing plan go to Big Wildlife.