Oregon Cougar Story
I just found this on the ESPN Outdoors website.
Rare feat: Four cougars killed in one sitting
Oregon family defends livestock by subduing a big 'group' of big cats
By Mark Freeman
Medford Mail Tribune
APPLEGATE, Ore. — When Jani and Tina Bango came home the afternoon of April 24 and found the half-eaten bodies of their two pet goats hidden beneath some grass, they knew a hungry cougar was the culprit — and that it would be back.
But they never thought the offending predator would bring three of its relatives.
Over a six-hour span during last Wednesday evening, the Bangos legally shot and killed four cougars that came into their rural Applegate Valley yard in southwestern Oregon to feed on the dead goats.
"We were prepared to deal with one, but this was just crazy," said Tina Bango, 32. "It's something we hope to never see again."
Cougars are normally secretive and loners. Rarely will cougars be seen in groups larger than just a mother and perhaps two young kittens, biologists said.
But this pack of healthy mountain lions appeared to be a mother, two juvenile offspring about ready to head out on their own, and a larger male that perhaps was the female's new suitor or simply a "nomad" that had joined the family, said biologist Mark Vargas of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
"I've never heard of a group of cougars that big," Vargas said. "It's amazing."
The killings were all legal under Oregon's damage-control laws, because the cougars had killed livestock.
The animals also were deemed a threat because they brazenly strolled about in daylight with little concern for humans, Vargas said.
"Once they get one free meal like that, they normally end up coming back," Vargas said.
The Bangos and their two children, Samantha, 4, and Zachary, 5, live 20 miles west of Medford, Ore., in the thick of the Siskiyou Mountains' cougar population.
The couple lost a house cat last week and they suspect that a cougar may have killed it.
They discovered their two pet goats gored in their backyard pen last week and again suspected a cougar because of the tell-tale behavior of partially hiding the carcasses and urinating nearby.
"We're a hunting family and we knew what needed to be done," Tina Bango said.
The Bangos reported the killing to the ODFW, then prepared to take armed shifts watching for the cougar to return for more feeding.
Jani Bango spotted a cougar in the yard about 4:30 p.m. April 24, then shot and killed it through his bedroom window with a 30.06-caliber rifle.
"We thought, OK, problem solved," Tina Bango said.
An hour later, the couple spotted two more cougars — one strolling down the family's driveway and the other sipping water in an adjacent irrigation ditch.
Tina Bango took her .243-caliber rifle and shot the one in the ditch, then the pair both shot and killed the cougar in the driveway, she said.
A neighbor who is a veterinarian inspected the carcasses, told the couple that the cougars were young and that they could expect their mother to return.
"So we kept our dogs and the kids inside and spent the rest of the day keeping an eye on the goat pen," Tina Bango said.
The couple fell asleep about 9:30 p.m. Jani Bango awoke at 10:15 p.m. to see a large cougar feeding on one of the dead goats. He shot and killed it.
"We hoped that was going to be it, but we did stay up the rest of the night looking for more," Tina Bango said.
The killings were reported the following morning to the ODFW, which took the carcasses.
Vargas said his examination revealed that the animals showed no signs of illness or poor health that could explain their behavior.
The adult female measured almost 6½ feet long and weighed 86 pounds. The largest male also measured 6½ feet, but weighed 75 pounds — a healthy size for what appeared to be a young adult cougar, Vargas said.
The two others were a juvenile male and female that each measured just under 6 feet long and weighed 77 pounds and 56 pounds, respectively.
The female's reproductive tract was removed for inspection later, and the animals were then buried, Vargas said.
The Bangos also believe the cougars bedded down at least once in some brush about 100 yards from their house.
"It's not like we enjoyed shooting them, but these cougars came out in the middle of the day and had no qualms about being around humans," Tina Bango said.
"It's terrible to lose your pets," she said. "But it could have been a lot worse."
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