Protect children, pets, livestock from cougars

I am glad that the cougar that was roaming Iowa County has been killed. Rumors have been around for years that the government has released cougars in Iowa. In recent years, there have been cougar sightings around the Amanas, Millersburg, Kirkwood Community College, on a bike trail in Fairfield, etc.

I expect the Iowa Department of Natural Resources to renew its efforts to have cougars protected in Iowa. Please call your legislators and tell them not to support any such legislation.

Two-thirds of cougar attacks are on children. Children, pets and livestock need to be protected from cougars - not the other way around.

If the DNR wants to restore animals to Iowa, let them restore the pheasants, quail and jack rabbits that are now non-existent in areas where they once thrived.

Do you really believe cougars are traveling to Marengo from the Rocky Mountains? That is the Iowa DNR's explanation.

Have cougars been released in Iowa? Well, the government agency that denies that claim is the same one that for years denied cougars were in Iowa at all. And we know that wasn't true.

Denise Leubka

Williamsburg