https://ktvz.com/news/wildlife...antelope-population/



Published December 2, 2021 2:31 PM

USFWS to ‘strategically’ kill cougars in bid to save plunging Hart Mtn. bighorn sheep population

Also noted: Drop in habitat quality due to juniper encroachment, invasive plants; hunting suspended

LAKEVIEW, Ore. (KTVZ) – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Thursday it plans to "temporarily and lethally remove cougars" on the Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge in southeast Oregon in an effort to stem a sharp decline in the California bighorn sheep population -- down about two-thirds in just four years, to fewer than 50.

The USFS announced a Notice of Availability for the final Environmental Impact Statement to address the significant decline, partnering with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to develop the bighorn sheep management plan for the refuge.


Here's the rest of the formal notice, in full:

The bighorn sheep population on the refuge has declined by 67% in four years, dropping from 149 sheep in 2017 to 48 in 2020. This trend puts the population at severe risk of extirpation (wiping out) without management intervention. The population decline is a result of high cougar predation and declining habitat quality due to juniper encroachment and invasive plants. Of the 19 sheep radio-collared on the refuge in January 2019, 10 have died. Seven of those deaths are attributed to cougar predation.


The final management plan will include a combination of management strategies to reduce bighorn sheep predation mortality caused by cougars in the short-term while providing time to identify and correct habitat issues that may take decades to resolve. The Service will temporarily and strategically lethally remove cougars in bighorn sheep habitat to allow the herd size to recover to a sustainable level. Habitat management would focus on the herd range and address life history needs to expand and enhance habitat conditions.

“We’re extremely concerned about the steep decline in the population of bighorn sheep on the refuge,” said Robyn Thorson, Columbia-Pacific Northwest Regional Director for the Service. “The Service and ODFW are working together to develop this management plan that will enable us to avoid extirpation while implementing long-term solutions for habitat improvement. This plan will help us save this population of bighorn sheep.”

Bighorn sheep were extirpated from Oregon by the 1940s due to disease and unregulated hunting. The first successful reintroduction of this native species occurred at Hart Mountain in 1954, when 20 California bighorn sheep from British Columbia were successfully released. Hart Mountain’s population served as an important source population for bighorn sheep transplants to other parts of Oregon and surrounding states.

Bighorn sheep hunting on Hart Mountain has been suspended by ODFW due to the declining population. The Service, in coordination with the ODFW, would not restart any sheep hunting until their population reaches a sustainable level and predator control by the refuge is discontinued.

The final EIS and additional information on the refuge and the sheep population can be found here: www.fws.gov/refuge/Hart_Mounta...horn_Sheep_Plan.html.

quote:

The population decline is a result of high cougar predation and declining habitat quality due to juniper encroachment and invasive plants. Of the 19 sheep radio-collared on the refuge in January 2019, 10 have died. Seven of those deaths are attributed to cougar predation.

[quote]

What? Climate change is not a factor? (sarcasm).

According to Oregon "Oregon has about 6,000 cougars statewide, up from an estimated 200 in the late 1960s."

The accepted kill rate for an adult lion is, one-deer-per-week-per-lion.

So, even with Common Core math, I come up with about 312,000 large ungulates being killed by lions, each year.

they used Obama math, you used old school math where you actually used numbers.

We had "planted " bighorns in an area close to us a number of years ago. To help the sheep thru the winter F&G established a feeding station ( read cougar smorgasbord ). Cougars "strategically" killed all the sheep.

Years ago I read a paper on this scenario in college. The author found that a select few lions began to specialize in killing sheep,devastating the herd. Remove the culprit or culprits and the herd can recover.

Move some of the cougars down here in the San Bernardino Mountains to add to the genetic pool, which is getting a little inbred...

TomP, I read an article about those mt. lions in the L.A. area and genetic testing showed that one male cat had sired cubs out of it's own grand daugthers Have they ever completed that wildlife crossing(overpass) over one of the freeways there so that the cats could access new territory without being totally hemmed in by busy freeways? You know the florida panther too was once threatened by inbreeding until they introduced some female lions from of all places, west texas. But researchers said they were very close kin as subspecies and it has worked to rejuvenate the florida panther. Amazingly those cats from arid west texas took to the everglades without a problem. They are very adaptable.

quote:

Originally posted by rolank:
TomP, I read an article about those mt. lions in the L.A. area and genetic testing showed that one male cat had sired cubs out of it's own grand daugthers Have they ever completed that wildlife crossing(overpass) over one of the freeways there so that the cats could access new territory without being totally hemmed in by busy freeways? You know the florida panther too was once threatened by inbreeding until they introduced some female lions from of all places, west texas. But researchers said they were very close kin as subspecies and it has worked to rejuvenate the florida panther. Amazingly those cats from arid west texas took to the everglades without a problem. They are very adaptable.

The crossings are on the table, not done yet (maybe not started yet - haven't been following this issue closely).

And why are there so many cougars in Oregon -- not just infesting Hart Mountain? That would be the result of liberal shitheads from Portland having voted to ban hound-hunting back in 1994. It was by far the most effective way to hunt and therefore control cougar numbers. What happens when a cougar kills your springer spaniel just outside the back door? ODFW calls in -- a hound hunter.

Many years ago the Texas Parks and Wildlife dept. was killing cougars in the Black Gap wildlife management area to save the desert bighorns there. The problem was that it bordered the rio grande river just to the east of Big Bend Nat. Park and the cats kept immigrating out of Mexico so it was a never ending struggle.

The New Mexico biologists published some papers about strategic mountain lion removal helping to get bighorns established. It worked in a number of mountain ranges here in NM for desert bighorns. Here is an article I found in the lay press about this.

NM bighorn article PDF

Another government solution for a problem of government making.

Write emails to ODFW, State Reps and USFWS politely suggesting that they re-open hound hunting as a cost saving management means.

quote:

temporarily and lethally remove cougars"

I would call that an oxymoron.

Grizz

Yes it is and its pretty damn dumb journalism as well.

An update on wildlife freeway crossings...

https://www.yahoo.com/news/mis...aised-140038173.html

There would not be a cougar problem if hound hunting was allowed. Both WA and OR libtards voted to ban hound hunting and baiting. The hunting community and public at large would mutually benefit if hound hunting was reinstituted.