Cougar enters home via doggy door
DEXTER, Ore. - A cougar entered a home through a dog door last month, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said.
The homeowner called her dog, and the cougar left the house, said Brian Wolfer with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
The homeowner wasn't too concerned about the late October incident and planned to lock the pet door when not in use, Wolfer said.
However, Wolfer called it "kind of concerning" that a cougar would enter a home that way. He advised homeowners to lock doors and keep pet food secure, even inside the house.
Ed Thompson, who lives in the area, said the incident illustrates the conflict between rural Lane County residents and the cougar population.
"I'm afraid that many people don't understand the breadth of the cougar problem right in Lane County's backyards," Thompson said. "In the Dexter/Pleasant Hill area alone there have been well more than a dozen livestock killings including sheep (two of which were ours), goats and an alpaca just this year."
This is a developing story. Watch KVAL News at 5 and 6 and KVAL.com for updates
Good example of what a domesticated cougar will do. They do what they are familiar with & when raised in captivity, they will enter your home. Poachers & unethical hound hunters want bills to be passed so they can kill cougar using dogs. It nets them big money & the poachers have an easier time poaching with dogs. Cougar cubs are taken from the wild and kept in captivity to be released in a public setting just before State Legislature. These exploited cougars then have false & misleading news published about them. Cougars raised by their mother in the wild will not bother humans (unless humans bother them first). Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) have several failed cougar policies including their current cougar management plan. They have a track record of failed pilot programs just like HB 4119. These "pilot" programs are really smoke screens to try and overturn M18 - a bill to prevent the use of hounds to kill cougar. These "pilot" programs are really folks out there hunting with hounds. Oregon does not have 5000 or 6000 cougar. We may have 1600. So, ODFW is not telling the public the truth, and instead are wasting tax payer dollars to support a small group of hound hunters and a very, very large group of poachers. Like clock work just before every State Legislative session, we get this kind of cougar news to try and get hound hunting bills passed.   More of Oregon's wildlife are poached than legally killed and ODFW looks the other way. Learn the truth, go to www.OreCat.org
"I know you miss the Wainwrights, Bobby. But they were weak and stupid people -- and that's why we have wolves and other large predators." - caption of the cartoon i failed at linking to.
24.media.tumbler.com/tumblr_lrp5wcDexE1qftipkol_400.jpg
This story reminds me of a particular "The Far Side"... http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lrp5wcDexE1qftipkol_400.jpg. The gist of the comic to me is that it would be nice if other predators weren't so easy to kill, because they could save us a lot of time and money by culling Earth's egregiously outsized human population.
 @mfw So your position is that it would be preferable that people were killed by other predators more often? =/
Finally the media is talking about this, I live in that area, I don't have any Deer left...I only have predators. In the last 6 months I have personally seen 2 black bears, 2 Bobcats, 4 fox, and at least 1/2 a dozen coyotes..not sure if it's the same ones twice.I have even heard what sounded like wolves although THEY ...ODFW...say that the wolves aren't here ....YET.My chickens have been killed, I am missing a cat...so, the next step in this process is to rid my land of these predators. I have the legal right to kill them if they threaten my livestock or family etc...I don't have the legal right to relocate them if I trapped them alive. So I guess I will shoot , shovel, and shut my mouth.
Nationally Cougar are a disappearing species. When you live in rural areas the FACT remains you are living in the animals backyard not the other way around. Our population has pushed wild animals into smaller and smaller areas to hunt and live. It is a people problem NOT an animal problem. Humans always do this. In Colorado a huge influx of people from California bought houses in new very rural areas then freaked out because of bears coming around digging into their trash. Killing the wild animals is NOT the solution. Learning how to live IN THEIR areas. Hunting is not an answer to a population of animals that were hunted to the point of being protected by law. Call me a bleeding heart if that makes your Neanderthal hunt and kill make you feel better but it is not an answer. Those with live stock know there will be loss to wild animals it comes with living on farms and ranches.
 @colorowdy Too bad there is no longer a thumbs down button to push.. however,,I give you 100 thumbs down for the asinine statement you have made.You miss the point entirely... No one has said that its a sport or a pleasurable thing to have to cull down certain predators..but it is necessary part of living.Humans come first..no matter what.Yes, we infringe on their territory.. and yes,we want tp preserve them,,and by that preserving, is responsibility to make sure they do not over populate in certain areas that contain human dwellings and schools and children..If hunter were still allowed to hunt as they used to..the Cat and Bear populations would be under control..ODFW only had some many tags that could be filled..its not like hunters were going to kill every critter out there..You show your true colors by your above posted statement..You are an import into my state and don't know "JACK"
 @colorowdy Last I checked I'm an animal too and I have just as much right to fight for my territory as any other animal. Like it or not, life on this planet evolved with us playing a key role. We're a part of the ecosystem as much as anything else. We're an apex predator and a keystone species. And the cougar conservation status is currently "least concern."
Yes, hunting with dogs does need to be reinstated however there is a greater crime in place. Ballot measure 18 (the bear baiting/cougar hunting with dogs law) took control out of the hands of Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife(The very organization that stepped in to save the cougar population in the 70s) and placed it in the hands of politicians. Whether hunting with dogs is ever re-legalized is less important than getting out wildlife back in control of ODFW. Our wildlife should not be some political pawn to be played with at will.
Concerning the cougar hunting with dogs thing... I get the whole "will of the people" bit, but the question isn't even if dogs will be used to hunt cougars in the state of Oregon... it's merely if hunters who are not being paid by the state (taxpayers) will be allowed to use dogs. We already pay "professional" hunters to kill cougar, tracking them with dogs. =/ We're paying people to do the EXACT SAME THING that hunters would buy a tag to do. What nonsense.
 @PleaseBeSmart So very true,,and another waste of tax paying dollars and we wonder why we are in such deficit
Is that a deer in the background towards the end of the video?
good eye!
The imported bleeding heart population in Portland was responsible for the fact that ODFW's rules were changed in regards to how Cougar and Bear are harvested.. We told these idiots that this would happen..give it enough time.. now we are over populated by Cougar and Bear..Californians and Arizonians..know nothing about what goes on in Oregon..esp our hunting situations.. We use to be able to bait bear,,and hunt cougar with dogs..no more.. and now look what has happened..One cannot effectively hunt cougar without the use of dogs..All because the bleeding hearts felt this was cruel.. We are over run with wild turkey..and we can't harvest them..and there are many folks that are hungry, that would appreciate a turkey dinner..I quit buying hunting license and tags because of this utter BS..I refuse to spend money paid to ODFW ,who won't put the foot down to stop this idiotic nonsense.once and for all..
 @Whitehawk I think you are missing the bigger picture from the animals point of view...the way the wild animals see it THEY ARE RAN OVER BY TOO MANY PEOPLE!!! Two sides to every problem. Maybe the people population is out of control and taking up too much space so much so we have pushed these animals into smaller and smaller hunting and living grounds. Did that ever cross your mind or were you just consumed by wanting to kill animals...the alpha dog syndrome...I do know this...if you love killing the animals make it a fair fight...no guns, no dogs just you and the cougar and lets see who is going to survive? That would be a fair stance.
 @colorowdy Nevermind that we evolved to use tools? But somehow that's cheating now? Well why stop there... let's throw out the other things we evolved that make us a formidable predator, like our enlarged cerebral cortex. =/ Give me a break.
 @Whitehawk agree overall with your take on hunting restrictions.  It was not only "bleeding hearts" that oppose baiting bears.  I have known two folks that baited bear for years. They would use cow heads.  Bears smell them from miles away. They get real high from the chemicals from the cow brain.  Just sit there stoned.  Not very sporting. The nine ring circus of government prevents common sense hunting in populated areas unless the cougar kills.
 @drinkmorewater Don't know where u got ur info , unless someone was putting some sort of chemical in the cow head.. there are no known natural chemicals in any animal brain that would cause a bear to get "stoned"
 @drinkmorewater I would use my salmon heads or halibut to bait bear with.. yes..I caught em and yes..I could do what i wanted with it..and so it would go towards bear bait.. Egg salad works too... the point being... if we paid for the license and tag,,and hunted spring or fall bear.. they are not easily found.. scent would bring them in.. You then had an opportunity to see whether it was a sow or a boar.. and if you even wanted to tag it...I left the sow's alone..
 @drinkmorewater High from chemicals in cow brain? What chemicals are in a cow brain that aren't in other brains? Does this affect only bears or something? Because my brother-in-law used to cook cow brains in our kitchen for breakfast and the only thing I got was grossed out. =/
Why didn't you ring the doorbell like everyone else, Demi?
Come on ODFW have a little common sense if all your education can't do it for you. You have limited the harvesting of cougars (that may not be all your fault, but I know you had your hands in it). Limited harvesting means more cougars needing food. The combination of cougars being pushed into and around humans searching for food increases the chances of something like this. Seems like a simple solution would be to reduce the cougar population. Going to happen with wolves pretty soon. Has already been happening with bears.Â
 @souptonuts My title is Voter not ODFW if you're wondering who banned hunting cougars with dogs, which is the only way most humans can even track a cougar.
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And it doesn't sound like it attacked anyone.
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My friend lost 4 chickens to a weasel. Because he didn't have a rooster.
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My advice to protect sheep is to use a farm dog.
 @SkinnersGhost A rooster? I don't know a single thing about weasels, but I know having a rooster never saved our chickens from foxes nor our eggs from skunks. =/ Are weasels scared of roosters or something?Â
@SkinnersGhost If you read my post you would see that I did not put all the blame on odfw. I am a voter also and remember when I was a young man there was a $75 bounty on female cougars and $50 on males. You are right that to hunt cougars with any predictable success the use of dogs is necessary. I know that voters stopped this, but I think they might vote differently now if they knew all the facts. Cougars are territorial to the tune of around 75 miles for healthy adults. When you crowd them you can expect problems, similar to people being too crowded, they get cranky and do things they shouldn't. Keep them spread out and they are mostly happy and healthy. Have a good day. I don't advocate bounties, but I do advocate proper game management.