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Elk study may mean death for 32 cougars First, scientists will see how many elk are killed by big cats By MARK FREEMAN A federal agency has given the green light for Oregon biologists to kill as many as 32 cougars as part of a larger study probing whether predators, poor nutrition or a combination of these factors is behind declines in some of the state's elk herds. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service concludes Oregon's proposed five-year, $1.25 million study on portions of the state's Roosevelt and Rocky Mountain elk herds would have no significant environmental or social impacts, nor would there be any long-term effect on cougar populations if the predators were killed. The study calls for Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists to collar and track both pregnant cow elk and the calves they bear for the first two years to gauge their nutritional health. Studied will be the Rocky Mountain elk in northeast Oregon and the Roosevelt elk in Douglas County. If enough of those collared elk are shown to die at the paws of cougars, then biologists would systematically kill as many as 32 cougars over three years to see if removing these predators would allow more elk to reach adulthood. A response to a 1999 Oregon Legislature order to study the cougar-elk issue, this study is the state's first attempt to discover whether cougars actually keep elk numbers down or simply prey on sick elk that would likely die anyway. "We want to know if the cause to lower recruitment in some of these elk populations is nutrition-based or cougar-based," said Bruce Johnson, an ODFW biologist who is leading the agency's research team. "The only way to get to the heart of that is to do some serious research." Study critics such as Brooks Fahy, of the Eugene-based Predator Defense Institute, believe killing cougars is unnecessary and unethical under the study's circumstances, especially in light of reams of evidence that suggests weather and degrading habitat are more at the root of elk declines than cougars. "If we were talking about doing this with human beings or chimpanzees, people would be more appalled," Fahy said. "But since it's a predator - cougars - and all the visceral images that go along with it, then it's OK. "It's a real tragedy that these animals that are just out there trying to make a living will get killed for politics," Fahy said. Johnson said killing the cougars for this study is not a foregone conclusion, and that it could be halted after two years if the early nutritional work points the fatal finger at noncougar factors. Because of the intense discussions among the public and the Legislature about cougar management since the hound-hunting bans of Measure 18 went into effect seven years ago, such a study is needed to clear these muddied waters. "Our goal is not to do controversial research, but to do research that helps answer some controversial biological and political questions," Johnson said. Johnson said he hopes to begin the nutritional parts of the study in November, meaning no cougars would be killed until late 2003 at the earliest. The study calls for killing up to 18 cougars in both northeast Oregon and in Douglas County over the final three years - 10 in each study area the first year and four each in the subsequent two years. The animals would be tracked by hounds and killed by biologists, who would then dispose of the carcasses. If all 32 cougars are killed for the study, it would represent just a 7 to 12 percent increase in current cougar killings annually by sport hunting and damage complaints, according to the fish and wildlife service. If conducted, the study would cost about $250,000 a year. In northeast Oregon, the study would involve Rocky Mountain elk in the Sled Springs and Wenaha wildlife management units near La Grande. In Douglas County, the study would involve Roosevelt elk in the Dixon and Indigo units. The ODFW in September expects to apply to the Fish and Wildlife Service for a grant to fund 75 percent of the research, while the agency expects to use state hunting-license funds and private donations to pay for its 25 percent share, Johnson said. The federal environmental assessment that paves the way for the study has no appeals process involved, so any attempt to block it would have to include a federal lawsuit, said Verlyn Ebert, the fish and wildlife service's grants manager in Portland. Fahy said his group does not expect to sue. Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.