State of Washington | 60th Legislature | 2008 Regular Session |
READ FIRST TIME 02/05/08.
AN ACT Relating to adding permanency to a pilot project that allowed for the use of dogs in cougar hunting; and amending 2007 c 178 ss 1 and 2 (uncodified).
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1 2007 c 178 s 1 (uncodified) is amended to read as follows:
(1)(a) The department of fish and wildlife, in cooperation and
collaboration with the county legislative authorities of Ferry,
Stevens, Pend Oreille, Chelan, and Okanogan counties, shall recommend
rules to establish a three-year pilot program within select game
management units of these counties, to pursue or kill cougars with the
aid of dogs.
(b) A pursuit season and a kill season with the aid of dogs must be
established through the fish and wildlife commission's rule-making
process, utilizing local dangerous wildlife task teams comprised of the
two collaborating authorities. The two collaborating authorities shall
also develop a more effective and accurate dangerous wildlife reporting
system to ensure a timely response.
(c) The pilot program's primary goals are to provide for public
safety, to protect property, and to assess cougar populations.
(2) Any rules adopted by the fish and wildlife commission to
establish a pilot project allowing for the pursuit or hunting of
cougars with the aid of dogs under this section only must ensure that
all pursuits or hunts are:
(a) Designed to protect public safety or property;
(b) Reflective of the most current cougar population data;
(c) Designed to generate data that is necessary for the department
to satisfy the reporting requirements of section 3 of this act; and
(d) Consistent with any applicable recommendations emerging from
research on cougar population dynamics in a multiprey environment
((conducted by Washington State University's department of natural
resource sciences that was)) funded in whole or in part by the
department of fish and wildlife.
(3) The department of fish and wildlife may authorize ((one)) three
additional seasons in which cougars may be pursued or killed with dogs,
subject to the other conditions of the pilot project. ((This)) The
additional ((season is)) seasons are authorized to ((avoid a lag in
cougar management and conditioning between the end of the third pilot
cougar season and the time needed for the 2008 legislature to consider
the report provided under section 3, chapter 264, Laws of 2004, and is
not intended to be considered as part of the study period)) aid the
department in the gathering of information necessary to formulate a
recommendation to the legislature regarding whether a permanent program
is warranted, and if so, what constraints, goals, and objectives should
be included in a permanent program.
Sec. 2 2007 c 178 s 2 (uncodified) is amended to read as follows:
A county legislative authority may request inclusion in the
((fourth and final year)) additional three years of the cougar control
pilot project authorized by ((chapter 264, Laws of 2004)) section 1 of
this act after taking the following actions:
(1) Adopting a resolution that requests inclusion in the pilot
project;
(2) Documenting the need to participate in the pilot project by
identifying the number of cougar/human encounters and livestock and pet
depredations;
(3) Developing and agreeing to the implementation of an education
program designed to disseminate to landowners and other citizens
information about predator exclusion techniques and devices and other
nonlethal methods of cougar management; and
(4) Demonstrating that existing cougar depredation permits, public
safety cougar hunts, or other existing wildlife management tools have
not been sufficient to deal with cougar incidents in the county.