Three cougars shot near Sisters

Cougars and people do not mix. That fact was in stark evidence last Sunday morning, March 18, in the neighborhood on McKinney Butte, east of the Sisters airport.

A tracking team located and shot three juvenile cougars after one of the cats mauled a homeowner's dogs. When that happens, wildlife officials usually agree there is only one method of dealing with the situation: killing the offenders.

At 3 a.m., Kris Kristovich, who was in bed with a nasty case of the flu, woke to a sound on his deck he couldn't recognize at first - "like someone pushing the deck chairs around."

When the light of dawn came around, he got out of bed, dragged himself into the kitchen and got the surprise of his life. Not more than 25 feet away, a cougar was perched in a pine tree in his backyard looking in the kitchen window.

The unfortunate story began several days back, when Kit Stafford of Sisters saw three cougars romping past her place. Then a resident came face-to-face with a cougar on his back deck near Perit Huntington Road. The three cougars then appeared in Junipine Acres.

Cougars' prey of choice is mule deer. Mule deer are migrators - and following right along with them are cougar. The problem is - as wildlife biologists are quick to point out -a lot of humans have moved into those migration routes, and cougar, being the predators they are, occasionally find a domestic dog or livestock easier to kill and eat than their long-preferred mule deer.

That's when trouble starts for all involved.

"There's a well-used deer trail that comes from the meadow, up the hill to my house and then splits, one part going past the house and the other past the garage," Kristovich said. "A neighbor's dogs were mauled by the cougar, and when I went out to look at the cougar that was killed I could see cougar and deer tracks everywhere."

Such are times when biologists with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) have some tough choices to make. They are fully aware that they have been forced into a "damned if you do, and damned if you don't" situation. There are hundreds of people throughout Sisters Country who love the idea that cougar and mule deer are acting out their natural partnership in nature. There are also just about as many people who do not want - and greatly fear -cougar chasing deer around in their backyard.

One of the people who must take action when the people/deer/cougar interaction begins to become acute is wildlife biologist Steven George in the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife (ODFW) Regional Office in Bend.

In that light, George has said, over-and-over again, "Please do not feed deer in your backyard, doing so creates a cougar magnet; that's one of the key factors in the problems these cougar have been causing over the past couple of weeks."

George noted that mule deer relax their natural fear of humans when they are habituated to food and mineral blocks. The neighbor's dog is no longer a feared wolf, it's just a barking nuisance; they become neighborhood "pets" and easy targets for cougar to take down.

The cougar, who depends on deer for breakfast, lunch and dinner, also becomes complacent with barking dogs, or - running out of patience with all the racket - eats one on occasion, and that's when all hell breaks loose. Enter ODFW, State Police Wildlife Officials, USDA Wildlife Services, and the final result is one, two or, in the case of the situation on McKinney Butte, three dead cougars.

"My neighbor's little grandchild plays around in our neighborhood," Kristovich said. "I love to photograph wildlife around my place, and my wife, Penny, hikes all around the meadow. Those poor cougar were just in the wrong place at the wrong time."