Then market hunting was outlawed. Sport hunting seasons and limits kept killing in check. Preservation became a watchword, deer herds grew, and the cougar quietly returned, slipping out of wilderness strongholds. Now healthy cougar populations exist in 12 Western states and two Canadian provinces. In all, biologists think, upwards of 26,000 cougars live in North America.
Cougars turn up in backyards, kill house pets, and stalk people.
Ten years ago, game wardens around Bend, Oregon, answered one or two cougar complaints a year. As the resort town boomed into the countryside and outdoor recreation increased in popularity, calls multiplied by a factor of 10. Of course grizzlies don't hurt people unless frightened, we said. Of course cougars flee human contact. Wolves transplanted from Canada into Idaho and Wyoming will, of course, never attack humans.