Protecting Cougars, Puma concolor

Cougars, also known as mountain lions, are the largest members of the cat family in Washington.

Mountain lions are often known for their role as a keystone species, but they are less commonly known as an umbrella species. While a keystone species is a species on which other species in an ecosystem largely depend, that if it were removed the ecosystem would change drastically, an umbrella species is a species that have either large habitat needs or other requirements whose conservation results in many other species being conserved at the ecosystem or landscape level. Umbrella species are those “whose conservation provides protection to a large number of naturally occurring species” (Roberge and Angelstam 2004, in Caro 2010).

Cougars play a vital role in not only supporting the health and function of ecosystems, but also by promoting biodiversity. Cougars provide a critical first line of defense against the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) and other diseases affecting ungulates. A recently-released report “Big Cats as Nature’s Check Against Disease” by Dr. Jim Keen, a veterinarian and infectious disease expert, mountain lions prey on deer and elk afflicted with chronic wasting disease, an illness caused by proteins called prions and spread through urine, feces, saliva, or contact with a contaminated environment. Mountain lions and wolves play a critical role in reducing the spread of a fatal, incurable neurological disease affecting deer and elk.

According to the report “Big Cats as Nature’s Check Against Disease” by Dr. Jim Keen, a veterinarian and infectious disease expert, mountain lions prey on deer and elk afflicted with chronic wasting disease, an illness caused by proteins called prions and spread through urine, feces, saliva, or contact with a contaminated environment.

Cougars target prey with CWD and remove prion from the environment. There is no cure for CWD.

This is one of many ways that mountain lions benefit wild ungulate populations and the humans who value them, including hunters. Their role in ecosystem health resilience should not be underestimated. There are many groups across the state working to protect cougars.

Science research shows cougars do not need to be hunted to control their population which cougars do, naturally, and can negatively impact cougar behavior leading human-cougar conflicts. In addition to overhunting and poaching, cougars and other species face multiple environmental pressures; habitat loss and fragmentation, climate change (increase in wildfires and drought conditions), and human encroachment into their territories.

If you care about cougars take the time to learn about coexistence. This approach protects cougars, you, and your pets and livestock.

Coexistence means we take the initiative to protect ourselves, our pets, and our livestock, as well as the native prey and habitat of lions, rather than reacting violently after a mountain lion has taken advantage of a lack of preparedness. Learn more from the Mountain Lion Foundation

What We Are Doing to Protect Cougars

Action: Speaking out for Cougars at WA Fish & Wildlife Commission Meetings

For many years, the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife (WDFW) allowed cougar mortality levels to get as high as 20 to 50% of the population in some game management units (GMUs). In 2020, WDFW increased cougar hunting (2020 Cougar Hunt Rule) even though the number of cougars being killed in many GMUs already exceeded the population’s growth rate. WDFW made this rule permanent, so they would not have to revisit the rule during the three-year season-setting process.

The Kettle Range Conservation Group partnering with other wildlife advocates track and attend Commission meetings. We submit comments, letters, and public testimonies on behalf of cougars.

We were very concerned about unsustainable state-sanctioned killing of cougars. Together with our allies we submitted a rulemaking petition in 2023 asking the Washington Fish & Wildlife Commission (FWC, Commission) to undertake rulemaking to amend their Washington Administrative Code (WAC) to better protect cougar populations, change hunting regulations, follow its own scientists recommendations and follow its legal mandate to protect, preserve, and perpetuate cougar populations, minimize human-wildlife conflicts; and manage for the public trust. The commission agreed with the 2023 rule petition and in 2024 set the cougar mortality cap at 13% that included counting all sources towards this cap – not just cougars killed by hunters as previously was the case.

This year, WDFW staff presented a CR 102 to the Commission that proposed the 13% mortality cap be changed to a 10-16 % cap by Cougar Hunt Management Unit (CMUs). Previously referred to as PMUs. On April 4^th, the Commission voted 6 to 1 to approve these rule changes.

The approved rule switched from a 13% cap on hunting and conflict removals to an upper bound of 16%. Units that on average exceed 16% over recent years revert to a 10% cap for three years. During the cougar harvest season from September 1, 2025 through March 31, 2026, when a Hunt Area reaches its cap in independent-aged conflict and/or harvest mortalities, the hunt area will close to cougar harvest. Hunt area closures will be updated every Thursday during the hunting season. The statewide bag limit is one cougar per license year.

Although FWC did not keep the 2023 13% total mortality cap, it did retain critical changes that we hope will build back cougar populations. These include:

Counting all sources of human caused mortality which includes hunting, cougar conflict removals for livestock depredation and human-safety issues towards the cap.
Counting all independent-aged cougars equally for management purposes.
AND adhering to the best estimates for population density and intrinsic growth rate from the agency and its partners’ research efforts.
AND MOST IMPORTANTLY – any CMU that exceeds 16% mortality when averaged over three years, reverts to a 10 percent cap for the following three years.

Current Cougar Population

WDFW estimate of cougar populations in Washington is based on population density research that is extrapolated to the amount of suitable cougar habitat in the state. This population estimate currently is 2400 independent-aged cougars living in Washington state. An “independent aged” cougar is one that is old enough to be living on its own, including sub-adult and adult animals.