The Utah Wildlife Board approved a few minor changes to the 2016 – 2017 cougar hunting season that biologists hope will result in more livestock saved. According to the Division of Wildlife Resources, the cougar population is doing well and that means the number of sheep and cattle killed by cougars has gone up. Last season, 60 incidents of cougars attacking livestock were reported which is 26 more than the season before. During the 2015 – 2016 season, hunters took 371 cougars and this year more will be allowed in certain areas where livestock are most at risk. “Most of the additional cougars will be taken in areas where the livestock incidents happened last season,” shares DWR mammals coordinator Leslie McFarlane. The guidebook for the 2016 – 2017 cougar hunt will be available at
www.wildlife.utah.gov
by mid-September.
