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JACKSON COUNTY Jackson County's wildlife services agent seen as both killer and savior Some say wildlife agents' tactics are cruel; others say they protect livestock, pets Comment By Vickie Aldous Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Vickie Aldous Mail Tribune Posted Apr. 16, 2015 at 4:41 PM Updated Apr 16, 2015 at 5:53 PM By Vickie Aldous Mail Tribune Posted Apr. 16, 2015 at 4:41 PM Updated Apr 16, 2015 at 5:53 PM » Social News Ashland resident Robert Norie's husky mix was caught in a cable snare, chewed her foot off and had to have her leg amputated after a wildlife services agent set out snares to catch sheep-eating wolves in an Idaho forest. Since the 2010 incident, Norie has been on a campaign to tell the public about the dangers to pets and people from lethal measures used against predators in the West. Other Jackson County residents are equally adamant in their competing view that local wildlife services agent Cricket Peyton has helped save pets, livestock and people from cougars and other predators that have lost their fear of humans. Members of the public spoke out during a Thursday Jackson County Budget Committee meeting in which committee members recommended spending $83,303 to continue Peyton's work to educate people about reducing conflicts with wildlife and to occasionally kill predators. The county provides $61,001 toward the program, with state and federal funds making up the difference. Norie has graphic, bloody photos of his dog Bella tangled in the Idaho snare. He was bitten on the thumb and developed blood poisoning when he and a forestry co-worker struggled to free Bella. At one point, he considered borrowing his co-worker's gun to put Bella out of her misery. "She'd chewed her foot off trying to get out of it," said Norie, who won a $7,000 settlement to help cover his and Bella's medical bills and time he had to take off from work. Norie and others, including advocates from the Eugene-based group Predator Defense, argued Jackson County shouldn't be funding a local wildlife services agent. But Gold Hill resident Shayne Maxwell said she fought for three years to get funding for a local agent after her neighborhood was ravaged in 2005 by cougars that killed 22 pets and livestock animals. Maxwell said she is a lifelong wildlife advocate and believes killing predators should be done only as a last resort. She said Peyton has "done an amazing job educating our community about what to do and what not to do." Maxwell said the average resident is not equipped to handle predators safely and needs the help and advice of a professional. "Pulling out a gun and trying to be Annie Oakley and kill a moving cougar is just not realistic or safe," she said. Wimer resident Cheryl Payne said she was stalked by a cougar in fall 2014 when she went outside to milk her goats, which she keeps fenced in and under the watch of guard dogs. "I fired shots to get it to stop. Luckily, I had a gun," she said. Wimer residents have reported a spate of recent goat and llama kills. They posted a trail camera video online of a cougar returning at night to the spot where a llama's body had been removed. Wildlife services agents work to resolve conflicts between people and wildlife so they can co-exist, said Michael Burrell, district supervisor for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Wildlife Services. Agents deal with everything from woodpeckers damaging houses to coyotes, black bears, cougars and wolves preying on pets and livestock, he said. They teach animal owners to help themselves by using tools such as shepherding, management of calving and lambing, confining livestock at night, erecting effective fences and disposing of livestock carcasses properly so they don't attract predators, Burrell said. In 2014, the agent in Jackson County responded to more than 100 calls about cougars and killed four, he said. "We prefer to use nonlethal when we are able to do that," Burrell said, adding, "You need to use the right tool in the right situation." Poison is not used in Jackson County and lethal means are used only when other methods have been exhausted or there is an immediate public safety hazard, such as a cougar killing an animal and burying the carcass next to someone's porch, he said. Burrell said predator numbers are on the rebound now that widespread eradication programs have ended and wolves have been reintroduced. Populations are larger than they have been in the last 50 years, and possibly the last 150 years, he said. "With successes come challenges. We have healthy populations of animals and humans, and conflicts aren't going away," Burrell said. Staff reporter Vickie Aldous can he reached at 541-776-4486 or [email protected] . Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/VickieAldous . By Vickie Aldous Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Vickie Aldous Mail Tribune Posted Apr. 16, 2015 at 4:41 PM Updated Apr 16, 2015 at 5:53 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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