Dear Guardian,

Growing up in rural southern Oregon, I remember celebrating in 1994 when my fellow Oregonians overwhelmingly passed Measure 18, the ballot initiative prohibiting hunters from using dogs to kill cougars.

The practice, called “hounding” is cruel and violates basic ethical principals of fair chase. Hounding is harmful to all of the animals involved. I also remember when an even larger majority of Oregonians rejected attempts to repeal Measure 18 in 1996. Nearly twenty years later, Oregonians must speak out to keep us from taking a huge step backward in how we treat native wildlife.

Four bills introduced in the current state legislative session would allow unsporting and cruel trophy hunting of cougars using hounds. Let’s keep Oregon moving forward: join us in telling our legislators to reject these bills and uphold Measure 18.

HB 2107, HB 2589, and SB 371 would allow counties to “opt out” of Measure 18. Aside from creating a messy and largely unenforceable, piecemeal approach to wildlife management, passage of these bills could set a bad precedent by allowing counties to subvert the will of the majority in statewide ballot measures. SB 458 is an even more blatant attempt to overturn the ban: it would require the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission to adopt a framework allowing trophy hunting of cougars with dogs.

Please ask your legislators to oppose these awful bills today.

Oregon’s cougars play an essential role in the health of our vibrant, wild landscape. Tell your legislators we meant it when we passed Measure 18: no hounding cougars in our state.

Thank you in advance for your activism,

 

Bethany Cotton
Wildlife Program Director
WildEarth Guardians
bcotton@wildearthguardians.org

photo credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service