Cougar hunting quotas harm our ability to maintain the natural health of Washington
Cougars, the big cats, seem to be in the news lately. In The Bellingham Herald, in social media, on the TV news, we see photos and videos of America’s lion walking past houses, perched in trees, peeking out from the woods. In the past few years, I have had two visits where a cougar was visible near my house in Sudden Valley. I must say this pleases me immensely to know that even with all the development and growth during the decades I’ve lived here, we have preserved enough natural areas that nature’s interplay of predator and prey, cougar and deer, can still exist.
Washington’s Fish and Wildlife Commission recently increased cougar hunting quotas in about a third of the state. In those areas, cougar mortalities were already above biologists’ recommendations for sustainability and minimizing social chaos in cougar society. The latter leads to more human interactions, as young cats vie for the open area and stop for a quick meal of chickens, goats or sheep. It seems past time that the commissioners do as I have done: get their facts from the biologists who have spent decades studying these iconic animals. Thankfully, Brad Smith, the commissioner from Whatcom County, voted against the hunting increase.
Some who see a photo of a cougar perched in a tree near a walking trail express fear, but I see an animal trying to avoid confrontation, hiding out until darkness curtails human activities and it can resume its business of making people’s rose gardens and fruit trees safe from deer and garbage cans safe from raccoons.
As a registered architect, I understand our approach should be to maintain the proper functioning of all elements of a structure, be it a building or an ecosystem. Accordingly, I have been a proponent for the environment and wildlife. In 2011, cougar advocates nominated me to participate in a science panel regarding cougars in Washington.
Interacting with biologists about our magnificent felines, I learned how, like all top carnivores, they manage their own populations. Cougars have a strict territorial system, and territorial cats frown on trespassing; young cats reaching independence must move on, “disperse,” to seek their own hunting grounds and mating opportunities.
Interestingly, I learned that removing territorial cats through activities like hunting will result in young dispersing cats converging on the territory to try to establish it as their own, not unlike a new cohort of freshmen at Western trying to take over housing vacated by seniors removed by graduation.
Mountain lions (another name for cougars) mark their territories by making “scrapes,” kicking up piles of forest litter and urinating or defecating on the pile to mark the area, and by leaving “scratches,” long parallel claw marks on trees and logs. And just like at Western, it seems that once everyone establishes housing, there is no longer a continuing parade through open housing areas. The social chaos subsides, and life seems normal again, for both students and cats.
I’m pleased that ongoing scientific research reinforces my early belief that cougars are essential for ecological function. A recent study by local biologist Mark Elbroch shows that cougars feed hundreds of species of animals: other predators, including bears, wolves, coyotes, and so on; other scavengers and birds; and multitudes of beetles and other insects.
Science libraries compiled by authoritative advocacy organizations including the Mountain Lion Foundation show that Washington’s big cats help to maintain our natural areas and clean water. They feed myriad other animals with their hunting prowess and generous leftovers, and they contribute to the way of life we all enjoy.
We owe it to our children and grandchildren to maintain the natural health of this region by being good stewards of the land and our wildlife neighbors.