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Deaths of cougar kittens give hunters with hounds a black eye
Submitted by Zimo on Thu, 01/24/2008 - 5:36pm.
Three malnourished mountain lion kittens had to be killed earlier this month because Idaho wildlife biologists believe their mother had been treed so many times by hunters with hounds that she didn't have time hunt for food for her young.
It definitely gives hound hunters a black eye and these hunters went too far when it came to this family of mountain lions.
The story came out of Pocatello last week and we're getting letters to the editor on the incident.
Fish and Game said various hunters with dogs treed the female mountain lion with kittens to take pictures. It occurred in the Mink Creek area on the outskirts of the eastern Idaho city.
Hunting with hounds gives responsible hunters the rare opportunity to take part in "catch and release" hunting. Hunters can use dogs to pursue mountain lions in Idaho. They often tree the big cats, not to shoot them, but to take photos.
An Idaho Fish and Game officer believed the female lion hadn't had time to kill a deer for some time because she was being pursued so often.
Although it is illegal to shoot a mountain lion with kittens, it's almost like the hunters involved pulled the trigger on the kittens.
The constant chasing of the female cougar apparently caused the deaths of the young animals.
Fish and Game doesn't have any idea what happened to the mother.
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Death Of Cougar Kittens
I just had to respond & say how terrible this was!! So very sad!!
Yea there you go
They just want to kill anything. They should lose their rights to hunt. The hunters who did this should have a big penalty for doing this and lose their liscence sorry spelling for a year.
Here Kitty
oh please!
1) An Idaho Fish and Game officer believed the female lion hadn't had time to kill a deer for some time because she was being pursued so often.
2) Fish and Game doesn't have any idea what happened to the mother.
They didn't know what happend to her, yet, the officer concluded the chasing caused the kittens to be 'malnourished'.
Right,,,, because photographing happens in the day and a cat can't hunt at night, and so she was busy all day long with the hounds.
None the less, maybe the trackers were excessive in pursuit of one animal. How about harassment of wildlife? But to link it to malnourished kittens is a bit of stretch!
And then for the F&G to euthanize them????
That sounds like the worst part of the story.
What no zoos need a mountain lion? No rehab facilities?
Hel, hippiewolf might want to adopt a cougar to go with his hybrid wolf. He could raise the kits along with his children and then he would be 'hippiecat'.
So very sad
I say tree the hunters and feed the dogs to the cats. Problem solved. These kinds of things make me embarrassed to be human. Disgusting, greedy and no respect for other creatures. Can you believe this sort of thing brings them pleasure. Whacked, just plain whacked.
Don't kill dogs cruelly...
to exact "justice", stupid. I wish I could have a dog but I'm having trouble having ME...all you can do is remind me that my sister's old yellow dog is slow, sore and slowly dying and probably got put to sleep by now and as fast as that happened it makes me cry some and think of my own mortality.
These are NOT Pit Bull terriers, those don't even make good hunting dogs, and treeing animals is part of their normal job regardless. They have not sinned, so don't punish them.
Get some anger therapy while you are at it. You are not healthy.
well
lets see they can save a bear ,,,but not lion cubs???
Those were the GERMANS!
In a Zoo!
Last I heard, 1 died in the fall and maybe 1 survived (bear cubs).
YES! That means either Yogi or Boo-Boo is GONE.
Irresponsible wildlife officials and reporter
This is an agenda-based story. The wildlife biologists don't like hound hunting and have fabricated a story to discredit them. If I was a member of a hound-hunting organization, I'd be scheduling an appointment with the Fish and Game director. Look at all of the subjective words in Zimo's story here: "Idaho wildlife biologists BELIEVE . . .," "An Idaho Fish and Game officer BELIEVED . . .," "The constant chasing of the female cougar APPARENTLY . . .," and "Fish and Game doesn't have any idea what happened to the mother."
Shame, shame, shame on you biologists and Zimo.
APPARENTLY...
you are displeased and possibly they are polite and contrite so as to avoid seeming maladroit.
Oh Lord, won't you buy me a thesaurus today?
My friends all have spell check,
I'm slipping away.....
Report The Facts!
What irresponsible journalism! They believe!, since when were facts based on beliefs? How long would a group of houndsmen have to chase a cougar to cause her cubs to be so malnourished that they need to be put down? Days?, A Week? I find it hard to beleive that anyone would chase a cougar for that period of time, but then again that is my BELIEF, which according to you would now be a fact. They also don't know if the cat left the cubs for dead. There are a lot of unknowns here. You say it is as if the hunters pulled the tigger themselves. They are not the ones who put the cubs down. The Idaho F&G did! why are you not saying they have the black eye. YOU put the black eye on the houndsmen by reporting beliefs not facts. It is bad journalism that sucker punches us and gives all of us outdoorsmen a black eye.