08/02/2005

Associated Press

Efforts to allow counties to reinstate the use of dogs to hunt cougars appear to have stalled.

In June, the Republican-led House approved an amendment drafted by a trophy hunting group that would have loosened voter-approved initiatives banning the use of dogs to hunt cougars and the use of bait to lure bears.

The proposal ran aground in the Democrat-run Senate. Proponents of the bill said they would try to devise a compromise that could pass both chambers and win Gov. Ted Kulongoski's approval.

But with no deal reached and the clock ticking on the session, the bill is likely to die in a conference committee.

Sen. Charlie Ringo, a Beaverton Democrat, the chairman of the chamber's environment committee, said he "got signals" that the governor's office was unwilling to budge. Many lawmakers are also not convinced that public opinion has changed, he said.

"The thing that makes it difficult for the Legislature is that voters weighed in on the issue — twice," he said.

Opponents of hound hunting consider it unethical and unsportsmanlike, but the ban is seen as unfair by rural Oregonians, who have cougars in their midst. Oregon's cougar population has increased from 3,100 in 1994 — the year voters approved the ban — to 5,500 last year, according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

"This is something that is still on the priority list for rural Oregon," said Senate Minority Leader Ted Ferrioli, R-John Day.

He said he'll try until the session's final minutes to get the bill unstuck, although he concedes that the likelihood of that happening is slim.

"We're trying to fish it out," he said. "There may be some bills where the majority will be facing tough votes, and we'd be prepared to help them with votes if they can help us."

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Information from: The Bulletin, http://www.bendbulletin.com