State wildlife experts say that Oregon`s cougar population has nearly doubled since 1994, when voters outlawed using hounds to hunt cougars and bears by passing Measure 18. Cougars have been reported in all of Oregon`s 36 counties. A bill in the House would loosen hound-hunting restrictions to reduce what some see as a cougar threat to populated areas, livestock and wildlife such as deer and elk.
Read Original at: Salem Statesman Journal