I dont understand why Ben would tell people that cougar doesnt cause problem at 60 feet from house in Kittas county. Whatever was it safe or NOT? could it be a little boy at 60 ft from house would end up drag him away. People did called about livestock loss and cross their property and Wdf did fill up a complaint reports and its public to know what out there.. Almost 300 complalint per year around few county unbelievable that ben didnt share this part. This is a B>S>
What some people justify as a problem cougar others may not. There are a vast majority of varying opinions on cougars throughout this state. One person may see killing a deer next to their house a problem while others may not see it a problem at all and realize that they built their house in areas that cougars may frequent. Obviously this isn't the same on the westside where cougars are coming into contact with humans more, opinions over there and perspectives on public safety change I think.
And what is considered a cougar complaint? Talking to several biologists and a couple game wardens even when a person calls in and reports a cougar sighting, not acting as a threat, but just a sighting that is chalked up as a "complaint" on their form. I think the point Ben was trying to get across when he made the point about that cougar killing deer 60 feet from people's homes was that in fact that cougar was killing deer near people's home, killing their natural prey rather than pets or livestock because it is an adult rather than a younger subordinate cougar that may be more curious and less experienced. When a failed attempt at a deer, the younger cougar may in fact go for an easier target like a young horse or house cat.
What I gather from this article was this: NE washington where heavy hunting occurs and the average age of a cougar is around 2-3 you have more complaints because you have more of these subordinate animals that are curious and less experienced. While in Cle Elum, in a lightly hunted area you have a older age structure of animals with more experience living amongst development and around humans where complaints are much lower and livestock depredation appears to be less than NE Washington. So due to heavy hunting in NE WA it is possible that by maintaining a younger age structure complaints can increase if in fact it is the younger cats that are often the culprit. I think they needed to emphasize more that hound hunting may potentially be a more sustainable way to manage cougars. There didn't seem to reallly be a problem with them prior to 1996, I would like to see it re-instated.
