A cougar blamed for killing goats and chickens at a home near Hendrick's Park in Eugene has been trapped and killed.
The cougar visited a property that abuts Hendricks Park for four consecutive nights, killing two goats and some chickens. Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife trapped the 84-pound female Tuesday morning in a cage took it away and euthanized it. District Wildlife Biologist, Brian Wolfer says there was potential for the cougar to keep killing livestock and domestic animals, even if it was relocated.
Wolfer: "It's never fun to have to euthanize an animal. At the same time, it's never fun for a pet-owner or a livestock owner to discover that their animals were killed. We do try to educate people about things they can do to keep their pets safe."
Wolfer says those include keeping animals indoors overnight. A landowner has a right under Oregon law to kill a cougar that has damaged livestock. Wolfer says ODFW took care of it because of the potential for things to go wrong if the landowner tried to take the cougar down himself.
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