A proposal by a slim majority of the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission to ratchet down cougar hunting will endanger livestock, pets and people, northeast Washington state Rep. Joel Kretz said May 7.

Restricting hunting could be a prelude to the commission ordering wildlife managers to kill fewer cougars for threatening people and property. Commissioners are ignoring rural concerns about predators, Kretz said.

The snub will cost Fish and Wildlife the cooperation of people who have contact with cougars, said Kretz, whose large rural district also hosts a growing wolf population.

“It’s a powder keg,” he said. “I do think we’re at a critical point with the commission.

“The whole issue with cougars is that if you deal with the problem, you probably won’t have to kill as many cougars, and you probably will save a lot of cougars’ lives,” Kretz said.

Five of the nine commissioners in April voted to propose shortening the cougar hunting season and setting stricter caps on harvests. The department will take public comments on the proposal until June 21.

The new hunting regulations will backtrack on higher harvest limits the commission set in 2020 after northeast Washington rural residents said they felt increasingly threatened by cougars.

The liberalized rules did not actually increase the number of harvested cougars, said Fish and Wildlife game managers, who recommended against changing the hunting regulations for the upcoming season. The commission’s majority, however, agreed with environmental groups the 2020 rules were to placate rural residents and were not scientific.

The commission also should take action to reduce the number of cougars being lethally removed for conflicts with people and property, Commissioner Melanie Rowland said.

“It is too many,” she said. “I would like to know what we can do about it and start doing it, but that’s going to take a long time. … We need to address the hunting removals because we can.”

No sign of decline

Fish and Wildlife scientists said they don’t know how many cougars are in northeast Washington, but there is no evidence that hunting and lethal control have reduced the region’s population.

“There are a number of older adult males, just the type of thing you want to see,” carnivore scientist Brian Kertson said. “It appears that things are OK, although we don’t have a great deal of certainty.”

Commissioner Tim Ragen said the department should “err on the side of healthy cougar populations.” He and four other commissioners agreed on a set of hunting proposals at the meeting in April.

Susewind persists

Fish and Wildlife Director Kelly Susewind said commissioners have never drawn up a rule at a meeting. “I’m in a bit of disbelief,” he said. “I haven’t seen this (proposal). I think these things were being worked on at lunch.”

Commissioner Lorna Smith tried to cut him off, but Susewind persisted. “Could I please finish for once? You’ve done this many times, Commissioner Smith,” he said.

“You’re trying to go your direction despite where the agency wants to go. And if we don’t say what you want to hear, you don’t want to hear from us. This is a problem,” Susewind said.

Smith, Ragen, Rowland and Commissioners Barbara Baker and Woody Myers supported the rule proposal. Commissioners Molly Linville, John Lehmkuhl, Steve Parker and Jim Anderson opposed it.

The majority ramrodded it through without discussing it with the minority, Linville said.

“You just want to steamroll us,” she said. “Commissioners are being left in the dark. Commissioners are being disregarded, and trust is eroding.”