Article by Erik Smith. Published on Wednesday, March 09, 2011 EST.
You Might Think This One Would be a Big Win in Husky Country, but Urban Animal Activists Say Big Cats Shouldn’t be Hounded
These photos, snapped by a motion-sensitive camera in Eastern Washington’s Douglas County near Wenatchee Dec. 23, show a remarkable eight cougars in the same frame. See Seattle Times story.
By Erik Smith
Staff writer/ Washington State Wire
OLYMPIA, March 9.—Eastern Washington has a cougar problem – anyone who graduated from the University of Washington can tell you that.
But as lawmakers debate a measure that would allow cougar hunts with dogs, you might notice a funny thing. It’s Eastern Washington that wants them dead. And it’s the folks from Husky country – and the whole general area – who are leading the opposition.
The state Senate Monday gave the nod to a bill that would give a five-year extension to a state program that allows hound hunters to go after the big cats – the real ones, not the ones that got their diplomas from a certain college in the middle of the Palouse. The 37-11 vote demonstrated once again the enormous gulf between those who live in the state’s big cities and those who make their lives in the state’s wide-open spaces.
City-based animal-activist groups argue that hunting with dogs isn’t sporting. And if you look at the roll call, you can see that every no-vote on the measure came from lawmakers representing the urbanized counties of the central Puget Sound area. All were Democrats, with the exception of Republican Andy Hill of Redmond.
Rural lawmakers don’t have much patience for King County hand-wringing.
“They should come visit me,” said state Rep. Joel Kretz, R-Wauconda. “We will take a long walk out behind my house right about dusk.”
It’s spooky out there, he said.
Kitties They’re Not
The state’s cougar population has been on the upswing since a citizen initiative in 1996 banned the use of dogs in hunting cougars, black bears, lynx and bobcats. Though other hunting techniques are still allowed, Initiative 655 essentially eliminated the most effective means of hunting cougars. The big cats really don’t have any natural predators, and it wasn’t long before farmers and ranchers started noticing a big increase in attacks on their pets and livestock. Complaints to state wildlife officials exploded from about 200 a year to about 900 in 2000.
Kretz has pictures. Horses on his farm have had their haunches ripped wide-open. “I had a close call with my son,” he said. “He was going out of the house to feed his rabbits and he let his dog out. He stayed inside to put his boots on. By the time he got outside a cougar had killed his dog.”
Folks out in the wild country near the Canadian border have taken to carrying guns when they go horseback riding. “It’s a little unnerving,” said Jim Detro, an Okanogan County commissioner. “You can come back an hour after you’ve ridden down the trail and find that there is a cat track where they have been following you.”
And then there’s the case of four-year-old Jacob Walsh, who was attacked outside his grandfather’s home, just off the Kettle Falls highway back in 1999. The animal gave him a good mauling as it dragged him into the woods, and missed his jugular by a quarter-inch. Friends and family scared the animal off.
Lost Their Fear
What happened when the initiative passed is that the cats lost their fear of man, cattlemen say, and started prowling closer to human habitation. Three years ago, rancher Keith Krebs lost 18 calves; in 2009, 20. “We found a number of them chewed up,” he told the House Agriculture Committee at a hearing in January. Last year it was only 12 – because of the Department of Fish and Wildlife’s limited hound-hunting program. One cat was taken on his ranch.
Under the seven-year-old program, the department has allowed limited hound hunting in five Eastern Washington counties – Chelan, Stevens, Ferry, Okanogan and Klickitat. The take is strictly limited by number and sex, and each case is justified for public-safety reasons. Hound-hunting offers an effective way of going after the big cats, because the dogs tree the cougars, and hunters have a chance to determine sex before firing. But the program is set to expire this year. Senate Bill 5356 would continue it through 2016.
Exactly how many cougars are on the prowl is a matter of guesswork, not exactitude. Some figure the state’s cougar population at between 2,000 and 2,500. That’s a number state officials consider sustainable. Each year hound-hunters take about 40, with an equal number through traditional hunting means.
Many who live near the wild say the number may be greater than anyone thinks. They point to a stunning photo recently reprinted in the state’s newspapers, captured by a motion-sensitive camera set up in Douglas County in the Eastern Washington scabland country, miles from any forest. Eight cougars were captured in a single frame.
And there’s something else they notice – the deer seem to be disappearing.
Duane Dewey, who lives in the Glenwood Valley area of Klickitat County, said it used to be a deer-hunting mecca, but now the game is nearly nonexistent. “I believe they are hungry and that’s why believe the people around the Glenwood Valley have had more and more instances of seeing cats, seeing tracks. I’ve walked out in the morning and seen cougar tracks in the wintertime in the snow within 35 feet of my front door, more than one time. I think they’re coming into town because they’re hungry. They want to eat, and eat they will, and I agree with Mr. Krebs’ evaluation, that it is a matter of time until some human being is attacked by one of these things and gets hurt or killed. I’m in the woods all the time. It could be me.”
Activists Upset
Representatives of animal welfare groups consider the state program an assault on the initiative they passed 15 years ago. Those who recall the campaign may remember gruesome photos of cats and bears after the hounds had gotten to them – photos that got a big emotional response. Hound hunting just is cruel and unsporting, said Jennifer Hillman, western regional director of the Humane Society, and justifying it in the name of public safety just isn’t good enough.
“Initiative 655 actually passed by 67 percent, so 67 percent of Washingtonians believe that it is inherently inhumane to chase cougars into trees with dogs and shoot them at point-blank range in the name of sport,” she said.
Also testifying against the legislation were the Progressive Animal Welfare Society and Conservation Northwest.
And that raises the key question about the bill: How will it fare in the House, where leadership is dominated by urban Puget Sound Democrats, and where activist groups find a more sympathetic ear? A similar bill, making the state program permanent, was advanced to the House floor by the agriculture panel, but House leaders declined to call it up for a vote.
The bill, it should be noted, is supported by the Department of Fish and Wildlife, which says closely managed hound hunting is the best way to keep the cougar population under control and address local complaints.
Officials point out that cougars aren’t just an Eastern Washington problem. One big cougar population roams the woods just east of Auburn, said carnivore manager Donnie Martorello. A cougar with a GPS-transmitting collar has been tracked through downtown Auburn and out to the Auburn Supermall, near the intersection of Highways 167 and 18.
“This demonstrates that we have cougars living very close to people, and there is more than a chance – inevitably we are going to have conflict.”
A horse on state Rep. Joel Kretz’ farm had a haunch torn open.
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