Benton County poultry farmer kills cougar

Published 5:00 am Sunday, September 5, 2010

PHILOMATH — A Benton County man says a neighbor has shot and killed a young cougar prowling around poultry pens.

Reed Glasmann told the Corvallis Gazette-Times on Friday the animal was on his property the evening before when Shane Mooney shot it.

Glasmann said Mooney was going to feed his ducks, geese and swans when he startled the animal. He says Mooney took his young son to the house, got a rifle and killed the cougar.

Last fall, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife estimated, 5,700 cougars roamed the state, and sightings are on the rise in the mid-Willamette Valley.

Five sheep have been lost to predation at a Linn County farm where six cougars have been shot or trapped.