New suggests hunting cougars does not achieve state management goals of reducing conflicts between the large cats, humans and livestock.
The study compared decades of data in one state without cougar hunting (California) to 10 western states that allow hunts. The researchers analyzed cougar populations, human-cougar interactions, cougar-livestock attacks and deer populations.
If management was working to reduce cougar-related issues in the 10 hunting states, the researchers expected to see larger cougar populations, more cougar interactions and attacks, and lower deer populations in California. That isn鈥檛 what they found.
鈥淭here is no justification for sport hunting, relative to these four objectives,鈥� said John Laundr茅, a long-time predator biologist and assistant professor at Western Oregon University.
Laundr茅 led the study, and said the hunting didn鈥檛 make a statistical difference with any of those metrics. His study even found that in Utah and Washington, there were correlations between cougar hunting and increased livestock attacks and human interactions.
Laundr茅 explained this could be because when a mother cougar is killed, juvenile kittens that haven鈥檛 learned how to hunt could go after easier prey like cows or humans.
鈥淭hey don鈥檛 know what to look for, so they don鈥檛 know what is appropriate prey. They鈥檙e small. So they鈥檒l attack whatever they want,鈥� he said.
It is illegal to shoot female cougars with spotted kittens in most states. Hunting females is limited or discouraged in much of the West, too, because of their importance to maintaining cougar populations.
Laundr茅 said his findings don鈥檛 necessarily mean that states should outlaw hunting cougars. Instead, he said it means citizens should decide whether they want to allow hunting, given that its only benefit would be recreation.
The study did have limitations, though, with researchers noting that it鈥檚 extremely difficult to estimate cougar populations. Find reporter Madelyn Beck on Twitter
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