Proceedings of the Ninth Mountain Lion Workshop - Carnivore ...

the incident rated highest (67%). Of the agencies that relocated cougars, 58% marked the
cougar before release, 17% marked it most of the time, and 25% marked the animal some
of the time (Table 9). Conversely, when asked if relocated cougars were monitored after
release responses were: 17% yes, 8% most of the time, 67% some of the time, and 8%
never (Table 9).
Table 9. Agency cougar capture and relocation protocol, by jurisdiction, as reported
in a survey of North American wildlife agencies, 2008.
Jurisdiction
Is Relocation
Ever An Option?
Are Cougars Marked
Prior to Release?
Proceedings of the Ninth Mountain Lion Workshop
Do You Monitor results of
cougar relocations?
Alberta Yes Always Some of the time
Arizona No Always Some of the time
California No Always Always
Colorado Yes Always Some of the time
Florida No N/A N/A
Idaho Yes Some of the time Some of the time
Montana Yes Some of the time Some of the time
Nevada No N/A N/A
New
Mexico
Yes Most of the time No
Oregon No N/A N/A
South
No
Dakota
N/A N/A
Texas No N/A N/A
Utah Yes Most of the time Some of the time
Washingto
n
Yes Always Almost always
Wyoming Yes Some of the time Some of the time
In Mexico, researchers in the Jalisco, Oaxaca, and Sonora regions all reported that
depredation of livestock was the most common cougar-human conflict across all
jurisdictions. Pet and poultry depredation were common in the Oaxaca region, but were
ranked least common in the Jalisco and Sonora regions. Across all regions, summer was
the most common time of year depredations occurred. In the Oaxaca and Sonora regions,
cattle was the most common species involved in depredations, but in the Jalisco region,
cattle, sheep, goats, and horses all scored equally.
Education
Seventy-three percent of wildlife agencies had a cougar education program currently in
place (Table 10). When we asked personnel to rate their agency’s education efforts: 13%
of agencies thought they had a comprehensive approach; 40% thought their approach was
adequate; and 46% rated their efforts as minimal or needing attention (Table 10). In
response to the need for education in their jurisdiction, 73% of agencies said the need was
increasing and 27% said the need was stable (Table 10). Agencies used a variety of ways
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