DNR should protect cougar population

The hunter who killed the mountain lion near Marengo isn't the issue here, but rather the bigger picture of why his kill was legal in the first place.

Mountain lions are native to Iowa and were driven into local extinction by hunting from American settlers. Now, individuals are trickling in from surrounding states and the animals are resuming the role they once played in our forests and fields. Mountain lions feed mostly on deer, whose large population is damaging crops and posing an often fatal hazard on the roadways.

The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) doesn't have the legislative authority to manage cougars. The state Legislature can and should act to allow the DNR to protect these animals, so that they can return to Iowa and resume their former function. A cougar has never killed a human in Iowa in recorded history, and death by bee sting or tainted spinach is far more likely than death by cougar attack.

Eventually, these amazing animals can recover at least some of their former numbers and add to the diversity of our forests. Take the example of bobcats, which were endangered locally but have recovered enough under protection that the DNR allows them to be hunted. For a similar recovery of cougars to happen, the Legislature must act to let the DNR manage the population by temporarily banning the killing of cougars.

Jonathan Frazier

Mount Vernon