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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend October 9, 2005 State biologists to inspect suspected cougar prey By MARK FREEMAN Mail Tribune State wildlife biologists will try to verify all cougar-damage complaints in the Rogue Valley under a shift in strategy that will help put some teeth into parts of its new draft plan for cougar management in Oregon. Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists plan to inspect freshly killed sheep, goats, dogs and even deer suspected of falling prey to a cougar in Jackson and Josephine counties. These inspections can help verify which animals were killed by predators and whether the offending animal was a cougar or another carnivore such as a coyote or bear. "We’re going to go out on a carcass — if a carcass is involved — to see if it was a cougar," said Mark Vargas, the ODFW’s Rogue Watershed wildlife biologist. In past years, about 20 percent of such cases were field-investigated, Vargas said. Advertisement But the ODFW’s draft cougar management plan calls for increasing cougar killing in specific areas targeted, in part, because of high levels of cougar damage. Though using complaints is secondary to tracking numbers of non-hunter-killed cougars in establishing target areas, having field investigations of those complaints will help confirm those numbers, Vargas said. "It’ll play a more crucial role in establishing these target areas," Vargas said. "We don’t want to start harvesting additional cougars in an area if the offending predator is a coyote." Unchanged, however, is the policy that virtually all human-safety and cougar-sighting reports are handled over the telephone, Vargas said. Exceptions will be for cougar reports around places such as schools and parks, Vargas said. "We’ll play the sightings and safety issues by ear," Vargas said. "Our efforts definitely will be focused on carcasses." Animal-rights activist Sally Mackler for years has badgered the ODFW’s Central Point office to verify and investigate its complaints. Since complaints will be used differently if the draft cougar management plan is adopted, relying on verified cases is a small step forward, Mackler said. "They should have been doing this all along," Mackler said. "It’s helpful and it’s an improvement, but it doesn’t fix the cougar management plan." Damage complaints throughout much of Oregon already are field-investigated. But Jackson and Josephine counties generate a large percentage of Oregon’s cougar complaints, making it too time- consuming, Vargas said. In 2003, for instance, 894 cougar-human conflicts were reported statewide. But 186 of those complaints came from Jackson and Josephine counties. "To go on every one of those calls we get in the county, it would take one or two people to respond full-time to complaints," Vargas said. Kevin Westfall from the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association said he believes cougar interactions and losses to the predator actually go underreported in Oregon. Westfall said cattlemen report far fewer interactions with cougars because they see no benefits in reporting. "Right now, conflict numbers are just a statistic," said Westfall, of Salem. If the cougar plan gets adopted in December and complaints help drive management decisions, the cattlemen’s association will encourage ranchers to report their cougar interactions. "We’re certainly not encouraging anyone to abuse the system," Westfall said. "But we’ll encourage people to use the system." Mackler said she believes a full investigation of every cougar-damage complaint is worthwhile. "In my mind, it’s worth the extra money to have better information, especially on such a controversial issue," she said. Though cougars generate the most publicity, they don’t generate the most complaint calls. In all, the ODFW’s Central Point office received a record 1,375 wildlife complaints in 2004, of which 271 involved cougars. The office received 1,159 complaints through August this year, and 172 involved cougars. Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail State biologists to inspect suspected cougar prey ">[email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback www.bingo.com Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker dvd-r Distance Education Computer Security Ztech Media Hosting Sports Equipment Online Casino Student Loans Online Pharmacy tcg student loan consolidation Online Casino Reviews Myspace Home Equity Loans Windermere Van Vleet Deep Muscle Stimulator Discount Hotel Reservations Southern Oregon Loans Online Casino News Casino Gambling Sites Online Bingo Entertainment Guide Salvia Divinorum Advertisement s