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It may be hard to understand why a cougar would attack a full-grown horse or even a small beef steer. Here is a study from Alberta, Canada, talking about cougars specializing in certain types of prey, including horses. Speaking of horses, here is a 2009 USDA Report from Nevada talking about a cougar who repeatedly attacked Clysdesdale horses. |
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Keep in mind that every day, western cougars survive by attacking and feeding on elk - 600 pound animals. According to author Robert Busch, Daniel Boone and his brother even reported seeing a cougar tackle an adult buffalo. |
| Wild cougars cannot be killed by the public in defense of pets or livestock without a permit from the DNR. While the DNR indicates that exotic cougars that are escaped pets may be killed if they are attacking pets or livestock, there is a great risk of making this distinction. See the Florida Billie court decision. It is better to be safe and get a kill permit prior to taking action. |
| Until Fall, 2006, livestock owners could not be reimbursed for livestock taken by cougars. After the introduction of legislation and an outcry from the public, the Department of Natural Resources and the Michigan Department of Agriculture have changed policy - temporarily. |
| As of July 13, 2006, the DNR prepared a revised Livestock Depradation form that allows for livestock reimbursement for cougar losses. Michigan Department of Agriculture Section 212 Indemnification Payments, now reads "Authorizes Department to provide for indemnity, limits indeminifcation orders to $100,000, and requires reports on reason for, amount of, and person to whom the indemnification is to be paid. Authorizes Department to indemnify for livestock killed by wolves, coyotes, or cougars and expend funds received from the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) for indemnification made pursuant to this section." |
| Prior to this policy change, livestock would have needed to be classified as killed by wolves or coyotes to be eligible for reimbursement. That veil has now been lifted. For the 10/1/06 through 9/31/07 budget period, cougar killed livestock will be reimbursed. The DNR has even restructured their Report of Livestock Depradation form to include cougars, as well as bear, bobcat, and domestic dogs. The DNR plans to send three biologists to New Mexico in Summer, 2007, to intensively study cougar-killed livestock. |
| The DNR will not investigate complaints of livestock depredation by cougars. DNR Cougar Webpage It is critical that these be reported immediately. All physical evidence will be collected by the DNR. Please do not remove evidence. To report livestock killed by cougars, contact your local DNR operations Service Center or call the DNR Report all Poaching (RAP) hotline at 800-292-7800. |
 HOW COUGARS ATTACK/KILL |
 Amazing Video from Colorado of a Cougar Killing a Deer (some explicit language) |
| BERRIEN COUNTY HORSE KILL |
| Berrien County Horse Necropsy |
| HOUSE BILL 5859 |
| This bill was originally introduced to address cougar-killed livestock reimbursement. It was withdrawn and handled directly through the Michigan Department of Agriculture budget as outlined above. |
| MWC Testimony |
| JACKSON COUNTY HORSE KILL |
| MINIMIZING LIVESTOCK LOSSES |
| MOUNTAIN LION FOUNDATION BROCHURES |
| Enclosure Plans for Light Load Pens under $500 - FFA/4-H Approved |
| Enclosure Plans for Heavy Load Pens under $1,000 - FFA/4-H Approved |
| Protecting Pets and Livestock |
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DNR - PREDATOR KILLED LIVESTOCK |
| The link below will take you to a recently developed DNR brochure about determining if your livestock was killed by a predator. While the brochure currently does not include cougar information, the Department promised in early October to revise the brochure to include the cougar. |
| DID A PREDATOR KILL MY LIVESTOCK? |
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