Los Lunas mother to testify on proposal to thin cougar population ( New Mexico )

News-Bulletin ^ | 28 August 2010 | Dana Bowley

[george76]

Salazar's 5-year-old son was attacked and severely mauled by a cougar that tried to drag the boy off a well-used hiking trail and into the woods in the Sandia Mountains outside of Albuquerque. The story was so frightening that it made national news.

"People would say that it was just an accident. That it was extremely rare, just a rare accident." ...Convinced that three attacks in three months didn't qualify as rare...

In 2006 and 2007, there were nine reported ... In 2008, there were 40 reported encounters before the attack on her son in May.

This led her into more research, where, she said, she discovered that both cougar and bear encounters, and attacks, were not as "rare" as people were being led to believe.

And, she found, there were encounters being reported in areas where there weren't supposed to be any of the predators, leading her to believe that population estimates weren't correct.

She began urging Game and Fish officials to take a hard look at predator populations, and their recent research has confirmed Salazar's suspicions. After discovering a flaw in its modeling, the department says there are 11 percent more bears and 72 percent more cougars than it had previously estimated.

This, Salazar said, explains why there have been an increasing number of reports of bears and cougars showing up inside cities looking for food, because despite good conditions the past few years their habitats are overpopulated. That forces younger animals out of established feeding areas that are dominated by older ones.

In the meantime, Salazar has formed an organization to support the Game and Fish proposal — New Mexicans for Proactive Wildlife Predator Management — which, she said, now has more than 450 members...

[george76]

Many states need to re-work their predator estimates.

Time for another sit down with the local DOW ?

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

The first and last cougar I ever saw in NM was in 1959, at a sheep ranch south of HOPE, NM. It was dead, hanging on a fence next to a bunch of coyotes and golden eagles.

[Carry_Okie]

After discovering a flaw in its modeling, the department says there are 11 percent more bears and 72 percent more cougars than it had previously estimated.”

This is typical of agencies incapable of managing by gross balances and direct observations, relying instead upon sitting behind a desk with a computer. I would hate to tell you how bad the count errors are with Elk and wolves in Idaho. The populations are far to dynamic and mobile for this approach to work, ever.

[george76]

Some of the problem seems to be the willingness of Journ-0-list types to create numbers to fit their political agenda.

Common sense says that native predator numbers are way up. Then there are the non-native , imported, Canadian wolves and...

[Vinnie]

I suggested that a few weeks ago.
Relocate these problem animals to three Az. counties on the border.

No U.S. citizens are allowed into those counties. The animals could live in a natural setting and have plenty of food. At least until word got out.

[Carry_Okie]

Common sense says that native predator numbers are way up. Then there are the non-native , imported, Canadian wolves and...

I am more concerned about the parasites that came in with them (forming hydatid cysts) than I am with their size relative to the timber wolf that was here. According to Val Geist, average wolf size can double or shrink to half just with variations in the food supply in as little as five generations.

[troy McClure]

We just got back from walking our dogs.

I always carry my pistol as we see cougar tracks here and have had bears spotted just up the road from us.

[matthew fuller]

Not guilty!

[JouleZ]

Based on the new information, Game and Fish officials have introduced a proposal to increase hunting of cougars and bears to bring the populations back in line with the available habitat.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

My husband, an avid hunter, has been saying for decades that opening up more deer hunting permits in the Sandias would eliminate the food source and bring down the bear and mountain lion populations.

The Game & Fish won’t allow gun permits because of the high density of outdoor usage in the area so only bow hunting is allowed, and that is limited because the libs who hike, bike, camp and abhor hunting animals might have to see a deer run by with an arrow in it. The horror!