Washington lets dogs back in cougar hunts
Eight years after Washington voters banned the practice, hunters have again been granted permission to pursue cougars using hounds.
Friday’s unanimous decision by the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission applies only to Chelan, Okanogan, Ferry, Stevens and Pend Oreille counties. The hills and forests of northeastern Washington have experienced the highest amount of livestock depredation and human run-ins with cougars.
Hunting cougars with hounds will begin Dec. 1 and run through March 31 for the next three years. At the end of the pilot program, the Fish and Wildlife Commission will analyze the effectiveness of hound hunting in reducing cougar-human conflicts.
A statewide cougar season for hunters without hounds started Aug. 1 and runs though March 15 of next year. However, that season has been shortened in the counties where hound-hunting is now allowed; it starts Oct. 16 and runs through Nov. 19.
State and local officials say
houndsmen offer the most precise tool for managing cougar populations, particularly for pursuing the unruly juvenile male cats that are chief suspects in many of the encounters with humans and pets. Since 1996, hunters have been allowed to shoot the predators without using tracking dogs, and most of the harvest has come from deer hunters making chance cougar sightings, said Madonna Luers, spokeswoman for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
“There’s been so much – relatively speaking – indiscriminate harvest. They see a cat, they pop it,” Luers said. “We’re taking more cougars out of Washington now than we did when we had hound hunting. We’ve really been nailing cats wherever they’re pretty populated.”
Yet, complaints over problem cougars have risen since the ban passed in 1996, Luers said. Last year, 347 complaints were filed, which is a third higher than the amount filed a year before the ban was adopted. The complaints range from horses and pets being mauled to backyard sightings. In November, a hunter in southeast Washington was attacked by a cougar while he was field-dressing an elk. The man stabbed the lion and sustained only a shredded sweatshirt.
The state’s only recorded fatality occurred 80 years ago in Okanogan County. Twelve of the 14 nonfatal attacks on record, however, have occurred since 1992, Luers said. One factor in the recent attacks is the state’s growing population and increasing number of outdoor enthusiasts, she added.
Last year, 222 cougars were killed in Washington, down from the post-ban peak of 295 cats shot in 1999. That compares with 283 cougars harvested in 1995, the year before the ban was passed, according to Wildlife Department data.
The Humane Society of the United States, which backed the ban and funded an advertising campaign, said the use of hounds will only increase problems between cougars and residents of northeast Washington. Houndsmen, like deer hunters, often pass up smaller specimens, said Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States. Mature mountain lions are the least likely to pursue an easy lunch of children or miniature poodles, he said.
“The trophy hunters who use hounds essentially try to shoot the larger adult males because they would make the best trophies. You eliminate the most stable segment of the population and you create more space for younger, juvenile animals,” said Pacelle from his office in Washington, D.C.
Although numerous studies continue to research the impact of hunting on cougar social order, many biologists believe problems occur when older cougars have been over-harvested, leaving the younger cats unsupervised.
Using hounds to pursue problem cougars was allowed in certain instances, even after passage of the ban. But houndsmen say the tracks of the trouble-making cougars were often cold by the time they received the necessary permission from state officials. Under the new program, houndsmen with cougar hunting permits will be able to set their dogs on tracks the moment they receive word of a sighting.
Hound-pursuit permits will only be available for Washington residents who own dogs capable of tracking and treeing a lion. A quota of 102 cougars has been set, with only 40 female lions allowed to be harvested. Once the quota is reached, hunters and their dogs will continue to be able to pursue cougars without killing them through the end of March.
Shirley Couse, mayor of Republic, Wash., said she and many of her constituents are happy the ban has been rescinded. The ability to call a local houndsman when cougars are spotted is an important public safety tool.
“We’ve had several pets taken in town. In fact, we did have some (cougars) around City Hall this spring,” Couse said. “I guess I would rather be proactive and protecting the citizens than reactive.”
The Humane Society of the United States, which opposes all sport hunting, considers the use of dogs to hunt cougars “cheating, inhumane and unsporting,” said Pacelle, the group’s president. “This is not a hunt, but a high-tech search-and-destroy mission.”
Pacelle also said reintroducing the use of hounds goes against the 63 percent of Washington voters who supported the ban. “The voters of Washington spoke in unmistakable terms in outlawing this practice,” he said.
Sen. Bob Morton, R-Orient, introduced the legislation that allowed county commissioners to work with the Fish and Wildlife Commission to reintroduce hound hunting. Members of the commission are appointed by the governor. The process included numerous public meetings, said Luers, the Fish and Wildlife Department spokeswoman.
“This was legislation proposed and discussed by the entire Legislature,” Luers said. “It’s all been a very public process. It’s been extremely public. This is not an end-run.”
The Washington Farm Bureau has been arguing against the hound ban – and a similar voter initiative in 2000 banning most trapping – on the grounds that scientists, not public opinion, should determine how wildlife is managed, said Dean Boyer, spokesman for the group. “Managing wildlife is not something that you want to do by initiative.”