# cougarfund.org



## shotgunwill (May 16, 2008)

Hey guys! I took my mom, who is visiting from out of state, up to Park City tonight to see what it was all about, and happen to run into a plug for this website http://cougarfund.org/ at a photo gallery.

Their opinion seems to be that we are living in _their_ world, and _we should be mindful of them_. They opinion that we should take precautions like a 10' chain link fence, with a 3' extension on a 65 degree angle at the top, around all our livestock(letter to Idaho).

I just got a bid for some chain link on my house to the tune of 3500$. Now, why would I want to spend the money to protect my livestock in cougar country, cuz it's theirs, not ours, according to them, with 10' of chain link? It seems to me to a cougar tag would be a cheaper means of deterrent.

Personally, I believe that when man is established as higher up in food chain, the cougar will stay away from us. Cougar/human encounters decrease when there is an open season on cougars. The exception is that one "crazy" cat that you hear about in the news, that starts killing pets in neighborhoods during daylight. Or, the one that was found sleeping in the tree, 3 blocks from my house in Ogden. :shock:

What do you think?


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## Al Hansen (Sep 7, 2007)

Can't wait. The grandkids (4 & 2) are no longer allowed in the cougars backyard ( you know the one I'm paying the morgage on ) since the wife saw it about a month ago. I know, I'm living on their feeding grounds. I don't want the younguns to be their feed.


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## Chaser (Sep 28, 2007)

That's funny that they say we should be "mindful" of them, like we need to be careful not to kill them, or do any harm to their populations. Just last week while my dad were headed out hunting grouse we were listening to the Outdoors program they do on KSL radio on saturday morning, and they were saying that cougar populations in Utah are at an all-time HIGH right now! They were saying there are way more of them out there than any of us would even think there would be, and most folks don't even know it. Here's what I say: Be mindful of their numbers getting out of control, because soon they'll start wandering into more backyards than just Al's, and people will be all in a rage that something hasn't been done to control the numbers. Protect your dog and deer tag: buy a cougar tag.


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## Great Basin Canada (May 7, 2008)

The people who thought this one up have the same mind set that the group did that got the California Mtn. Lion Initiative passed. That legislation along with the Marine Mammal Act and Wild Horse and Burro Act are the 3 worst pieces of wildlife legislation that were ever put together becuase they all have one thing in common - they tie the hands of the management agencies in terms of removing surplus animals. That in turn puts them in competion with other wildlife and increases the chance of contact with humans.

Lions have a big home range and are generally intolerant of other cats in their territory. If lions are showing up in town, they're probably juveniles that have been displaced by more mature animals. When I was livining in California, lions were common around Placervillw and two were spotted in the downtown area. My wife was concerned for my daughter and our pets. My response to her question was " if a lion comes on the property, we'll call CA F&G to remove it but they don't have to hurry!"

Managing wildlife on emotion or at the ballot box doesn't work!


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Al Hansen said:


> Can't wait. The grandkids (4 & 2) are no longer allowed in the cougars backyard ( you know the one I'm paying the morgage on ) since the wife saw it about a month ago. I know, I'm living on their feeding grounds. I don't want the younguns to be their feed.


That's too bad AL.

Should I send over some of the "boys" from Evingston, they have eliminated all the cats from here......and most everything else with fur on it.

:mrgreen: :mrgreen:


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## Finnegan (Sep 7, 2007)

ChaserOfAllBirds said:


> Just last week while my dad were headed out hunting grouse we were listening to the Outdoors program they do on KSL radio on saturday morning, and they were saying that cougar populations in Utah are at an all-time HIGH right now!


Then "they" are idiots. Go read the info from the July RAC.

And if you read the cougarfund website more closely, you'd see that the 10' chain link fence suggestion comes from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. The UDWR has its own brochure with recommendations for folks who live in close contact with lions, although the fence suggestion isn't there. (Likely wouldn't really work anyway since cats are climbers.)

Being "mindful" doesn't mean or even imply what you're making it out to mean. Most intelligent people are mindful of cougars and other predators. Again, if you actually read the site instead of jumping to conclusions, you'd see that one of their primary purposes is to reduce cougar attacks. Sounds like a good idea to me. They also care about deer management and that's where I share common ground with them.

I'm not an anti-hunter, so I'm all in favor of sound cougar management over wiping them out or forcing the killing of a "problem" lion by creating a problem myself. I feel the same way about bears.

Cougar hunting brings over $600,000 dollars into the DWR coffers, adds over $2 million to the state's economy and is just as important to the lifestyle of cougar hunters and houndsmen as my hunts are to me.


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## shotgunwill (May 16, 2008)

Finnegan said:


> ChaserOfAllBirds said:
> 
> 
> > Just last week while my dad were headed out hunting grouse we were listening to the Outdoors program they do on KSL radio on saturday morning, and they were saying that cougar populations in Utah are at an all-time HIGH right now!
> ...


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