Take Action Today! Oregon sportsmen and women should contact their state senator and let them know that sportsmen and women support cougar management with dogs. Please ask them to vote YES on Senate Bills 306 and 340. Members can obtain contact information for their state senator by using the Sportsmen’s Alliance Legislative Action Center.
Two bills have been pre-filed that would allow cougar hunting with dogs in Oregon, the most effective means for hunting cougars and controlling their population.
- Senate Bill 306 sponsored by Sen. Bill Hansell (R-Athena) would permit counties with voter approval to allow dogs to be used for hunting cougars.
- Senate Bill 340 sponsored by Sen. Herman Baertschiger (R-Grants Pass) would establish a 30-day statewide season in which dogs could be used to hunt cougars.
In 1994, anti-hunting groups, backed by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), bankrolled a ballot issue (Measure 18) which prohibited the use of dogs to hunt black bears and cougars. The initiative was narrowly approved by Oregon voters 52-48 percent. Since then, the state has struggled to contain the population of cougars and bears, an area of concern for livestock ranchers, wildlife professionals and public safety.
Over the Labor Day weekend, a woman was killed by a mountain lion in Oregon’s Mount Hood National Forest while hiking. In neighboring Washington state, which also suffers under a HSUS-backed hounding ban on cougars and bears, two mountain bikers were attacked in May. One of the bikers was killed and was partially consumed by the cougar, which was caching and guarding the body when officials arrived.
According to Oregon’s Department of Fish and Wildlife, there are more than 6,600 cougars in Oregon. The numbers are high enough that the apex predators pose a serious risk to livestock, as well as other wildlife populations. Allowing the use of dogs to hunt would help control the population and geographical spread of cougars through selective harvest and conditioning the animal’s to view humans as a possible threat and not prey.
“Dogs are a useful tool in selective, ethical hunting, and they should be allowed to help control the growing cougar population in Oregon before they become an even larger public safety concern,” said Luke Houghton, associate director of state services for the Sportsmen’s Alliance.
About the Sportsmen’s Alliance: The Sportsmen’s Alliance protects and defends America’s wildlife conservation programs and the pursuits – hunting, fishing and trapping – that generate the money to pay for them. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation is responsible for public education, legal defense and research. Its mission is accomplished through several distinct programs coordinated to provide the most complete defense capability possible. Stay connected to Sportsmen’s Alliance: Online, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
