| Cougar Attacks Colt - Twentieth
Attack On Kretz Property
July 18, 2003 By Becki Andrist, NCBI News Director, North Cascades Broadcasting, Inc. KOMW - KNCW - KZBE 509-826-0100 or toll-free 1-800-725-5669 Last Saturday night, a cougar attacked a colt belonging to Joel Kretz on his property in the Toroda Creek Area. Cougar attacks are nothing new for Kretz, as this is the twentieth (20th) attack on his property in recent years. Kretz said the problems started about three years after hound hunting was outlawed by voter initiative. "I think the big difference, you know they have always been up there, there's always been a pretty good population, but we had not had any problems. Then they made hound hunting illegal in 1996, and I think that is pretty clear, that is what changed it." Kretz said the trouble for him really began in 1999. "We didn't have any trouble until '99, and we had a couple of colts killed and another one torn up in '99, and I think we lost two dogs in '99. My boys' little Jack Russell [dog] got killed right in the back yard." Kretz said it has been nonstop ever since. In [the three years of] 1999-2001, Kretz lost two colts each year, with others torn up like this last one -- and the family lost dogs, along with a number of mares torn up [while] trying to save their colts. Kretz estimates the economic damage very conservatively at $20,000 and now -- even though he had 1300 acres of grassland -- he cannot pasture his horses on his own land because they are not safe from the cougars. Sgt. Jim Brown and Rich Beausoleil, a wildlife biologist with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, went to Kretz's property and confirmed that this last incident was indeed a cougar attack. Kretz said Sgt. Brown had done everything he can do, and defended Brown's actions so far. "There's been a lot of heat on them, and I really don't think it is justified. Jim has been, he's really pushed the envelope on the whole deal, and they are right up against what the law says they can do. And he has been 100 percent cooperative." Kretz says the problem with the cougar situation is really in Olympia. "The problem is in Olympia. The initiative banning the hound hunting is the biggest problem. The game commission has been hesitant to act, they always err on the side of caution -- with their safety, not mine. They are operating under fear that the Humane Society will sue them." Kretz says the cautious approach by the Game Commission is causing delays in action. The actions that have been taken he feels are Band-Aid solutions that are reactive and not proactive. Since the initiative banning hound hunting went into place, it has changed the behavior of the cougars in the wild. The animals no longer have a fear of people or dogs they have made it to the top of the food chain. Kretz said their behavior has noticeably changed in recent years. "Now they associate a barking dog with dinner, instead of [with] being chased. I used to see their tracks and they would come right by the house and they would get to the house and make a little loop around and keep going, no problem. No, they come to the house and make a loop right in and take something off the porch, or [take] a colt in the yard." We asked Kretz if he thought it would take somebody being killed by a cougar before the people in Olympia, who have the power to change the situation do any thing about it … and his response was … "Frankly, yeah, that's what it is going to take -- and I don't know if [even] that will do it." One argument that has been made by the animal rights groups is that 'man is encroaching' on the animal's territory. Kretz said that is not the case in the area where he lives. "This is the least amount of people that have been here since the turn of the [twentieth] century." With the increase in the cougar population, it would appear that the cougars are beginning to "encroach" on man? "Absolutely. Right at the bottom of my driveway was the old town of Boady, which had 400 people in it. Cougar Creek, Toroda, they had 400 there, Molson was 4,000. There was a homesteader on almost every 160-acre piece up there, and it has gone the other way completely." Kretz has received two depredation permits to hunt the cougars that made the most recent attack on his colt. They [the permits] probably won't be the last ones. http://www.komw.net/news/articles/2003_07_18_544.html Two graphic photos of injured colt from article: http://www.komw.net/news/images/kretzcolt1.jpg http://www.komw.net/news/images/kretzcolt2.jpg http://www.wsu.edu/~kgerman/home/media/cougartrack.jpg Great excerpt from: http://proliberty.com/observer/20020607.htm Okanogan Farm Bureau President Joel Kretz made some interesting comments about government stewardship. "I am a grass farmer. I grow good grass and feed it to animals that become protein to either eat or ride. Our grass is better than government grass. I know because we have had 19 cougar attacks in three years. They come over to my place because that is where the deer is -- the deer aren't on government land. Superior habitat. And these are the people who want to tell me how to manage my land?" Kretz also explained how if he grazes his cows on government land, they send him a bill. When he drives home he will see 200 deer grazing on his place. "It's time to send them a bill," he said. Joel is president of the Okanogan County (WA) Farm Bureau and chair of the RMAP Committee. plr@bossig.com or 509-779-4105
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