Oregon Cougar Action Team
P.O. Box 828, Aumsville, OR 97352. OreCat@yahoo.com, EIN: 26-2492196
The Cougar, The Tick, And Human Wellbeing; The Social, Economic, and Ecological Valuations Of Living with Cougars in Oregon. Peer reviewed Capstone Thesis.
https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/graduate_projects/6h441114x?locale=en
ORECAT SUPPORTS AND IS WORKING HARD TO IMPLEMENT AN "AGRICULTURE AND WILDLIFE PROTECTION PROGRAM", A COUNTY BY COUNTY HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL NON-LETHAL GRANTS PROGRAM FIRST INTRODUCED IN BENTON COUNTY, OREGON. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS REMARKABLE PROGRAM, PLEASE REFERENCE THE BELOW LINK. TO LEARN MORE ABOUT HOW YOU CAN START THIS PROGRAM IN YOUR COUNTY, EMAIL ORECAT@YAHOO.COM.
Agriculture & Wildlife Protection Program | Benton County Oregon
A Message from Allyson Jayne Miller Director Oregon Cougar Action Team:
There is nothing in our Universe that indicates that humans are the only species for which to be blessed with the ability to reason, think, and feel; indeed, there is growing evidence that is quite the contrary. Everyone, it seems, claims to love a particular animal or ecosystem. But I say, rather than fall in love, fall into an epiphany that changes your insights or perspectives as to the reality of the simple and often seemingly mystical elements of ecosystems and the animals and plants that sustain them. Because when you fall into an epiphany, you will never view the ecologies and animals as a commonplace occurrence or experience again. You will love them as if your life depended upon it. Allyson Miller, 2019.
Oregon Action Cougar Team is counting on you to be the change Oregon needs to protect Oregon's cougars from being hunted down with the use of hound dogs, and to help Oregonians learn to coexist with their surroundings in the wilderness.
The Secret Life of Mountain Lions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oBV1gcqR3A&feature=player_embedded
About Oregon's Cougar Kittens:
According to page 51 of Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s 2017 Cougar Management Plan, it states that Oregon has approximately 3,300 adult cougars and not 6,000 or 7,000. The apparent balance, 4,309, are a hypothetical cougar kitten population count, day one up to two years. Due to the high mortality rate of young wildlife, Fish and Game agencies do not count them in their population model counts. ODFW has singled out the cougar kitten, and unlike their deer and elk counts, has included the kitten in the adult population model count. ODFW does not count kitten mortality in their quota or harvest counts, yet kittens already dead or not yet born, are included in their cougar population model count.
By counting an apparent hypothetical number of kittens, ODFW and the hound hunters have willingly misled the public in a blatant attempt to make it sound like Oregon is full of cougars. When in fact, Oregon has no more adult cougar than any other state. Adding fear and exploiting the cougar kittens for which to pass bills to kill cougar specifically with hounds, is not rational, nor is it honest.
K-2 News investigative reporter discovered that ODFW is not telling you the truth about Oregon's cougar kittens. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=colv5FIZHrw
GO TO OUR COUGAR KITTEN STATS PAGE TO LEARN THE TRUTH ABOUT KITTEN MORTALITY!!
THE GREATEST GOOD FOR THE GREATER PART OF THE MASSES IS TO STOP KILLING COUGAR.
OreCat's director, Allyson Miller having some fun at a local pub perchakucha:
https://www.pechakucha.com/presentations/the-greatest-good-for-the-greater-part-of-the-masses-is-to-stop-killing-the-cougar--184
P.O. Box 828
Aumsville, OR 97325
ph: 971-720-7057
OreCat
OREGON DOES NOT HAVE 6000 OR 7000 COUGAR. THE POPULATION NUMBER IS BIASED STEALTH POLICY AND MISLEADS THE PUBLIC TO BELIEVE SOMETHING THAT IS NOT TRUE. WE ARE SEEING MORE COUGAR BECAUSE 1) KILLING MORE COUGAR CREATES MORE CONFLICT ISSUES. 2) OUR ECOSYSTEMS ARE CHANGING 3) FIRES, CLEAR-CUTTING, AND HUNTING POLICIES ALL CONTRIBUTE TOWARDS OUR COUGAR CONFLICT ISSUES.
CHANGE THE POLICIES, NOT THE COUGAR
Figure 1. Data averaged from six studies across the West. On average about 50% of the kittens born DO NOT reach dispersal age. The range is from as high as 71.5% to a low of 21%.
Figure 2. Three of the studies in Figure 1 come from protected cougar populations (no sport hunt). They include one from California, one from New Mexico and one from Yellowstone National Park. These can be considered to be stable populations (that is could be considered to be at carrying capacity). On average, the kitten survival is 40.3% or almost 60% of the kittens born in a saturated population (which ODFW says Oregon is approaching), will NOT reach dispersal age. ODFW is literally counting dead kittens (or soon to be) in their total population estimate.
Figure 3. Of kittens that do reach dispersal age (40-50% of those born), 85% of those (90% males and 80% females) disperse from their natal area and thus should NOT BE COUNTED in the total population for that area.
Figure 4. Of those that do disperse out of their natal area, almost 50% of them die within the first year after dispersing. This includes six studies from hunted and protected areas. In hunted areas, many of these dispersers are killed by hunters. However, hunters are actually killing “dead cougars walking” as they would probably die anyway! Of those that survive, 50% of 50% or 25%, replace those adults that would normally die. Average overall survival rate of adult cougars (male and female) in protected and unprotected areas is 79% but has been reported as low as 50%. Primary causes of non-hunting deaths are disease, interactions with other cougars, and accidents.
The conclusions to be drawn for these data from all these studies is that the ODFW estimate of the total cougar population (including resident adults, kittens, and dispersing animals) consists of approximately 50% of combined kittens and dispersing animals, 75% of which will die before becoming part of the resident population. The other 25% will basically replace normal losses of adult resident ones. As with other game animals, these expected losses should not be counted or reported as part of the actual number of cougars that are in Oregon. Based on the science, there is no reason to think that cougar populations are acting any different than any other predator population and are internally controlled by prey availability and social structure.
The data presented here has come from the following sources:
Chapter 5 Cougar population dynamics, in Cougar Ecology and Conservation 2010 University of Chicago Press
Numerical and demographic responses of pumas to changes in prey abundance: testing current predictions. 2007 Journal of Wildlife Management
Ghost of the Rockies The Yellowstone cougar project. 2004. Yellowstone Science.
K-2 News investigative reporter discovered that ODFW is not telling you the truth about Oregon's cougar kittens.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=colv5FIZHrw
P.O. Box 828
Aumsville, OR 97325
ph: 971-720-7057
OreCat