Some readers misinformed about cougars

Last week's column about TSgt Jason Chavies, Fairchild Air Force Base, shooting a cougar during a deer hunt, caused a bit of a fuss with some readers who didn't think kindly about shooting the cat.

The comments section of the online copy of the column included the following items. The names of the readers who responded are not included, because there is no way to be sure the names used were correct.

First response: Sad. Couldn't get a deer, so you take out the competition? What's the purpose in killing a cougar? Are you going to eat it? You said, “This was the first cat I've ever been close to in the wilderness,” and so you kill it? I really don't understand people who trophy hunt.

Dennis response: Read the last sentence...Cougar is great eating. You would be wise to read an entire story before making such off-the-wall comments.

Next response: Please don't think hunting is a cheap thrill that people only do to feel superior to animals. It takes a lot of time and hard work, not to mention the price of tags and gear to be successful. Plus, a whole lot of good luck.

Next response: If it wasn't about the trophy, you'd make a coat out of the hide, not a full mount. Game animals show a tiny impact from their (the cougar's) diet. Mostly, cougars are controlling the population of smaller animals that people don't bother with. Taking these predators out destroys the balance of nature. There aren't enough cougars left to make a significant dent in the game animal population.

Dennis response: You might be thinking about coyotes, because 95 percent of a cougar's diet are big game animals, mainly deer. Where are you getting your info?

Next response: It would have been great if the majestic cat had killed this sadist killer. He killed the mate of the male and they grieve just like humans do. I hope he learns to love animals because I imagine he will rot in hell after he dies. Hopefully soon.

Dennis response: Wow, this reader has problems not to be rectified in this column. Where are you getting your info? This male may well have mated with the female, but maybe not. They do not grieve just like humans. Male cougars may mate with several different females a year. Sometimes the males kill the cubs of a female to make the female go into heat again.

Another response: I hope your column next Thursday about cougars, is an effort to stop the rampant slaughter of our indigenous big cat, the Mountain lion, by the U.S. government, legal hunters, hound hunters and poachers across the United States.

Dennis response: The cougar season in Washington State is an effort to control the population. Read the entire column and you will (might) understand.

Dennis' cougar facts, gleaned from several Internet sites and Fish and Wildlife biologists:

• The cougar is known by several names, such as mountain lion, puma, panther and catamount.
• This cat cannot roar, but will purr. One person from Moses Lake was camping on Icicle Creek near Leavenworth in a small tent with his wife a few years ago. In the middle of the night he felt pressure from the outside of the tent. Something was resting against the tent and purring.
• Different sites give a wide variety of a cougar's weight, from 150 pounds to 250 for a male and 64 to 141 for females. The animal can be 5 to 9 feet long from nose to tip of tail.
• The mountain lion can leap vertically 18 feet and can jump horizontally 20 feet or more. Although, it can run from 35 to 45 mph, the cougar uses sprints instead of conducting long pursuits.
• Cougars usually reproduce every other year, with a gestation period of 90 to 96 days, producing, generally, two to three kittens.
• The mountain lion's main food is deer, but other large game animals may be eaten, plus they will eat smaller animals, down to insects, such as grasshoppers. They will also eat domestic animals and livestock. After killing a large animal, a cougar will cache the carcass and eat it in the future.
• During most of their lives, cougars are solitary creatures, interacting only to mate, which can happen at any time of year. Females raise the kittens, while the males return to their solitary lifestyles. Female pumas have a home range of 40 to 80 square miles and males have a range of 100 to 150 square miles.
• Fish and Wildlife estimates there are around 2,000 to 3,000 cougars statewide, not including yearlings and kittens. Statewide Cougar Harvest Statistics for the 2015 Hunting Season was 172.
• There were eight cougars caught on a trail cam in Moses Coulee a few years ago, two adult females and six kittens, but a biologist said the kittens looked as if they were starving. He expected only two kittens would live.
• Fish and Wildlife killed a cougar in a Russian olive tree in Ephrata a few years ago. One cat was killed at the southwest end of Lake Lenore a few years ago.

General note: Cougars either live in or are passing through the Columbia Basin, as well as most of Washington State. Be cougar-aware when in The Great Outdoors.