Cougars in the community: ODFW on staying safe among Oregon's Big Cats

From KLCC Studios, this is Oregon on the Record.

I'm Michael Dunn. There are annoying neighbors, really annoying neighbors, and then there are neighbors that have razor sharp claws and teeth and can outrun a car on city streets. I'm talking about one of Oregon's most fearsome apex predators, the mountain lion, and recently, one became a transitory neighbor of people in Springfield. Late last month, one of these big cats was spotted in a tree very close to houses and businesses, and while the outcome was harmless for both cougar and neighbors, it does beg the question, How can we live with these dangerous but elusive predators now that they number more than 6,000 in Oregon? Today on the show, we'll get a crash course in living with cougars and other dangerous animals from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife when they venture into our neighborhoods and when we venture into theirs. That's next on Oregon on the Record. In many ways, mountain lions are near perfect predators. They're incredibly fast and can catch anything that runs in Oregon. They're incredibly agile and can catch anything that climbs in Oregon. And they are big enough and strong enough and fierce enough to take down any prey animal that lives in Oregon. In short, the food chain in our state has cougars sitting at the very, very top. And their place atop that food chain is a real success story in Oregon. hunted to dangerously low levels decades and decades ago, the cougar has rebounded due to conservation efforts so that experts now list Oregon as near full capacity for cougars. While great for the environment, this abundance of big cats means that from time to time, we can witness some big trouble between cougars and people. And as we've recently seen, any one of us can come into contact with a cougar, not just in our wilderness areas, but right here in town. Today on the show, you'll hear from Oregon's Department of Fish and Game and get strategies and tips on how to live with Oregon's apex predator. Beth Quillian, Public Information Officer for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. Beth, it's great to talk to you again. Thanks so much for coming on the show.

You're welcome. Thanks for having me back, Michael.

Yeah, well, you know, fairly recently there was a cougar that was spotted in a neighborhood in Springfield. And I want to start with this. Why might a cougar venture into a more populous urban setting?

That is a great question. And there are a couple different reasons. As you know, Oregon is cougar country. We've got, you know, 6000 cougars of all different age classes throughout the state. Their populations are doing well and essentially at carrying capacity. So we've got got a lot of cougars. And especially around Springfield, there's. great cougar habitat. Um, you know, these areas that they've been seeing are adjacent to forested lands, agricultural lands and green spaces that cougars, um, use as travel corridors and, you know, places where, um, it just, it makes sense for them to be. So it's not surprising. Sometimes we do get cougars and bears, um, moving through more urban spaces and people are sometimes surprised by that but it's not uncommon for them to