Ranchers, hunters at odds with Ore. animal-rights activists about using dogs to hunt cougars

Oregon has about 6,000 wild cougars. Ranchers and hunters are on one side of the debate against animal-rights activists as the legislature debates a pair of bills that could allow dogs can be used to hunt or trap the big cats, Harry Esteve reports for The Oregonian. (Oregonian photo)

House Bill 2624 would "exempt counties from the statewide prohibition on using dogs to hunt cougars and black bears, if county voters approve. It also would allow the use of bait to hunt bears, which voters banned in 1994," Esteve reports. House Bill 3395 "would require the state Department of Fish and Wildlife to design a pilot program that would allow hunters to use dogs to track down and tree cougars. Counties could opt in."

Scott Beckstead, Oregon director of the Humane Society of the United States, told Esteve that cougar complaints fell from a high of 1,072 in 1999 to only 287 in 2012, while the number of cougars killed by hunters rose from 157 to 242. Beckstead said the bills "allow the use of dogs and bait for sport. The voters of Oregon have said they don't want that."

Rep. Sherrie Sprenger, sponsor of House Bill 3395, told Esteve she has no doubts that cougars are becoming braver and more willing to come into contact with people. "I hear over and over, no one has been killed by a cougar yet in Oregon," she said. "Is that what we're waiting for?" (Read more)