Oregon’s mountain lion population has increased since the state in 1993 banned the use of hounds to hunt the big cats

EAGLE POINT — They attacked under the cover of night Friday, slipping onto Roger and Karol Thalacker’s 15 acres off Stevens Road and heading straight toward the family’s walking weed-whackers — 13 sheep used to keep pasture grasses low.

When the ruckus subsided, two ewes sported bite or claw marks and one ewe lay close to death with a huge puncture wound to its throat. Two sets of cougar prints — one decidedly smaller than the other — appeared in the mud nearby.

The dying ewe was the seventh victim of a cougar attack at the Thalackers’ ranch in the past two years.

"It’s an ongoing battle with these cougars, and they’re coming closer and closer to each other," Roger Thalacker says. "It’s as if I’ve become a training ground for them, and I don’t care for that one bit."

Stories like the Thalackers’ have become more common in southwestern Oregon, where an apparently expanding cougar population makes loss of livestock and potential threats to people a growing problem, biologists say.

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The Thalackers’ ordeal was preceded Thursday by the killing of an ostrich and some ducks by a cougar near Williams. And on Wednesday in rural Ashland, a man shot and killed a cougar that appeared not to fear people, according to state biologists.

Five such cases were reported here in 2003.

Biologists say the conflict between cougars and humans is here to stay.

"We’re always going to have to deal with cougars now," says Mark Vargas, district wildlife biologist for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

"Shooting the cougars is just a short-term fix," Vargas says. "Cougars are highly territorial and when one is taken out, another will move in. It might not be right away, it might be a year, but it will happen."

Encounters with cougars have been in the news following Thursday’s incident in Southern California, in which a bicyclist was killed and another seriously injured in separate cougar attacks in a wilderness park. It was the first fatal cougar attack in California since 1994.

Oregon has never had a documented fatal attack by a cougar on a human, but it is surrounded by states that have had attacks in the past decade.

"I’m amazed we haven’t had an attack in Oregon," Vargas says. "I hope it never happens, but odds are it will."

Animal-rights activist Sally Mackler called the attacks in California a tragedy, but she doesn’t believe they translate into a reason for heightened concern about attacks on humans here.

"I don’t think there’s any more need for fear now than in past years," Mackler says. "You’re still more likely to be hit by a car or die by a bee sting than you have being attacked by a cougar."

Biologists believe Oregon’s cougar population has expanded since a 1993 ban on hound-hunting — which was the most common form of sport-hunting. The number of cougars killed dropped dramatically at first but has risen in recent years. Encounters over personal safety and damage have also increased, ODFW statistics note.

In 2002, the last year for which statistics are available, hunters killed 230 cougars statewide, while another 110 were killed for property damage like that suffered by the Thalackers. Another 22 were killed for personal safety.

Landowners who suffer damage can get permits to shoot and kill the offending animal. Anyone who believes he is threatened by a cougar can shoot it, and the incident must be reported and the carcass turned over to the ODFW within 72 hours under state law.

The Thalackers have tired of showing up in the cougar-damage ledger.

Two years ago, a cougar killed three ewes on their property, Roger Thalacker says. Under ODFW advice, he staked one of the carcasses to a tree and waited for the cougar to return and feed. It did the next night, but he shot and missed.

In September, he saw two young cougars one morning walking the fence-line of his property, which abuts the Eagle Point National Cemetery, he says. That night, an adult — which Thalacker presumes to be the young kitten’s mother —killed one of his ewes.

In Friday’s encounter, Thalacker believes it was the mother showing her offspring how to take down sheep.

"If it was just one every three years, I could live with that," Thalacker says. "But it’s becoming a big nuisance."

Mackler agrees that livestock losses to cougars will continue as more people live, ranch and recreate in wildlife habitat.

"People taking protective measures is a good thing," Mackler says.

Thalacker now herds his ewes into his barn nightly, and flood lights illuminate the property. He has a gun handy.

"I need to get the message out to these cougars — if you come, you will be killed."

Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail mfreeman@mailtribune.com

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