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S. Oregon pair testify for cougar hunt bills By PETER WONG SALEM -- Rural residents, including a couple from Southern Oregon, urged a legislative panel Monday to loosen the restrictions that voters imposed against hunting cougars with hounds. The 1994 ballot measure, which voters upheld two years later, bars the use of bait and hounds to hunt bears and cougars with some exceptions. Gayle Ellison recounted her encounter with a pair of cougars on the five acres she and her husband Tustin own on Humbug Creek Road in the Applegate Valley in the summer of 1997. A neighbor finally shot one of the cougars after a sheep was killed. "They were not going to leave, so we sat there and waited about five minutes," she told the House Water and Environment Committee. "Then we heard the diesel noise of a pickup come up and stop. We waited. Pretty soon we heard bam, bam, bam. "I am not an expert, but I believe the rise in the cougar problem is caused by the 1994 statewide ban on using dogs." Tustin Ellison, a three-time candidate for Jackson County commissioner, said he testified to let lawmakers know that rural residents of Southern Oregon feel threatened. He read excerpts from a letter by Amber Applegate of Ruch, whose story about the loss of a champion llama to a cougar about three weeks ago was recounted in the Mail Tribune. "The problem is that like any cat, they are breeding, their territory is getting smaller and their food source is depleted," she wrote. "They are coming into my territory to eat my livestock, which by the way is my livelihood. I am scared to hike on my own property and enjoy the other beautiful wonders and animals of nature." After voters approved the 1994 ban as Measure 18, the House declined in 1995 to refer the issue back to voters. Opponents gathered enough signatures for a repeal attempt, but voters rejected it in 1996. Jeff Watkins, a lobbyist for the Oregon Chapter of the Sierra Club, said the original ballot measure allows use of hounds and bait to avert animal damage to land, livestock and crops. "It is clear that the Department of Fish and Wildlife has the authority to issue permits and use hounds for damage control, so I wonder why this is not adequate," he said. State wildlife officials say the cougar population has grown from about 3,000 in 1994 to 4,000 today. Complaints they have received about livestock damage and close encounters with humans have exceeded about 700 annually, although some wildlife advocates have challenged that figure, saying that many of the sightings are not confirmed independently. The House committee, which heard from other landowners in Southern and Eastern Oregon about cougar sightings and killings, is considering three bills. House Bill 2873 would allow the state Fish and Wildlife Commission to create a "damage control" program with a $50 bounty for bagging a cougar. House Bill 2874 would let the state deputize hunters to hunt cougars with hounds where deer and elk herds have declined. House Bill 2875, similar to a bill that passed the Senate but died in the House two years ago, would let the state designate "safety zones" where hounds could be used. Three Southern Oregon Republicans are co-sponsors of all the bills, whose chief author is Rep. Mark Simmons, R-Elgin. Rep. Rob Patridge, R-Medford, is a co-sponsor of the safety-zone bill. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA