Michael Kennedy:

>3) we have had Fish and Wildlife dogs tracking cougar through our
>neighbourhood, and we live in a densely populated suburb...our house
>is about 20 years old.

In regard to the law on hunting, you still would if you lived in
Washington in such a situation.

If the initiative were to fail, though, I suspect that something
else would remain unchanged: you wouldn't be seeing sport hunters
in your densely populated suburb.

Among other things, it would be hard to avoid illegally shooting across
a road when in a suburb :)

Seriously, the initiative is about sport hunting, and with or without
it sport hunters are not a substitute for F&W types tracking down
individual animals in built-up areas.

>4) even if we are moving into "cougar" country, some might say it's
>time for them to move out... we are as much a part of nature as
>cougars are and as such we compete for resources just as they do.

And some would say it's not. The ebb and flow of these changing
attitudes are reflected in our management of wildlife, and this
initiative is part of the process of figuring out what we, as
a society, want management goals to be.

>there have been some tragic and horrifying incidents involving
>children in isolated communities up Island ... details are vague for
>me at present but they are documented.

How many, and how often compared to other hazards of rural living?
Cougar attacks tend to evoke an emotional response. Out in Oregon's
rural country, when ATVs first became popular it wasn't at all
uncommon to see kids driving three-wheelers, helping the folks
around the farm or ranch, not wearing a helmet. I can assure you
that these machines killed and crippled many more kids than
cougar have, yet they've never evoked the same emotional hatred
or loathing.

I certainly wouldn't claim that cougar are never going to attempt
to prey on humans, particularly kids, but the risk of this is so
low that if it weren't an animal we were speaking of, we'd treat
it as non-existent.

- Don Baccus, Portland OR <donb at rational.com>
Nature photos, on-line guides, at http://www.xxxpdx.com/~dhogaza