Join in the Birthday Celebrations!

Encourage your friends to “Honor” you on your Birthday!

We all have birthdays (even though some of us try to avoid the topic). Did you know that Facebook has created an amazing movement to use birthdays for good?

Thanks to people around the world, thousands of dollars have been raised to support non-profit organizations. We can’t help but feel an overwhelming amount of gratitude for those who’ve dedicated their birthday to the Cougar Fund. It’s a simple and impactful way that you can help us raise awareness for the cougar and other large carnivores.

Kitten Screen Shot

We want to share a few steps for your facebook fundraiser. Don’t worry, it’s easy to setup and launch your campaign.

  1. Open your Facebook account (or create one here)
  2. On your homepage, find the Fundraiser option in the column on the left. Click on the Fundraiser button and then Select Nonprofit. If you don’t see the Cougar Fund, just type this into the box.
  3. That’s it…Facebook will guide you through the remaining steps.

Don’t forget to set an achievable fundraising goal. Try starting with $200 or $300. You can always raise the amount based on your success.

Invite people on your friends’ list and engage with them! The more people you invite, the more money you’ll raise. Don’t forget to share your campaign frequently on your timeline: remember that not everyone will see something when you post just once.

Most importantly, thank people as they donate and watch numbers go up! Your friends and family are donating because of you…make sure to post frequent thank you messages on your campaign. Most importantly, have fun!!

At the Cougar Fund, we don’t want to miss out on the celebration. You might even find a special birthday present after launching your campaign.

Authorities in Oregon investigate as yet unconfirmed human fatality by a mountain lion

UPDATE September 14th 2018

ODWF has now announced the removal of an adult female cougar in the area where Diana Bober’s backpack was found. There is no evidence available yet to link this cougar with the fatal attack on Diana. ODFW does, however, speculate, that the cougar’s proximity to the scene is indicative of known cougar behavior.

In an astonishing statement, ODFW has said it will continue to kill cougars in the area until a ‘match’ is found.

https://www.dfw.state.or.us/news/2018/09_september/091418d%20.asp

Prior story:

For the second time this year, the awful news has come across our devices, our TV’s or been heard on the radio….there have been not one, but two, tragic human deaths in 2018 associated with the elusive, powerful, and yes, still wild, mountain lion.

While it is true that human deaths caused by mountain lions are extremely rare, and in the last 125 years, fatal human tragedy has occurred  just 27 times, it is also true that no statistic or opinion will ease the grief of loved ones who have suffered such a loss. Our priority must always be with the families of victims, who are so in need of our compassion and respect; and with the passage of time buy valtrex 500 necessary for the professionals to do their job in discovering what might have happened.

A tragedy like this should not become a mission to apportion blame or promote any particular agenda. As more details unfold, there will be a chance for all of us to become informed based on fact and not conjecture.

We urge the authorities in Oregon to take a measured and proactive approach, that does NOT include random killing of cougars in the area, where this tragic interaction happened. Please take the time to sedate, examine, and take pathological samples from any lions you find, fit them with gps collars and await the results of all forensic investigation, before deciding which lion, and why (disease, starvation, disability, injury, poisoning, reproductive status, age and condition) was involved. Whatever decision you then make will be a response to the type of evidence your scientists hold in high regard and NOT  a reaction to appease fear and provide a false sense of security for the understandably concerned public.

Compassion and perspective are the best tools for both managers and the public when dealing with such primal events.

 

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https://www.nwpb.org/2018/09/12/oregon-hiker-likely-killed-by-cougar-authorities-say-would-be-first-documented-fatality-in-state/

He was drawn for a coveted grizzly bear license, so why is he thrilled that he may not get to shoot one?

950433_1_1128-us-society-cbears_standardThe news on Thursday September 13th that Judge Dana Christiansen has given grizzly bears another two weeks reprieve from being hunted as trophies in Idaho and Wyoming, comes as a huge relief to grizzly bear license holder and Cougar Fund co-founder, Thomas D. Mangelsen. This shouldn’t surprise you as Tom has spent a lifetime chronicling the lives of wildlife and sharing intimate photographic records of their beauty, their behavior, and their contribution to the environment. Tom’s art has been to reveal nature’s art to a wider audience through the lens of his camera. His success in being randomly drawn for a Wyoming grizzly bear license, that he only intends to use to photograph, has inspired support for grizzly bears through publicity from as near as Wyoming and as far away as french icon, La Monde. In between, the Washington Post, the New York Times and 60 Minutes with Anderson Cooper have told Tom’s story of reverence and support for the grizzly…and the public has heard the message loud and clear!

Though Tom may not be able to use his license to hunt an image, he, and many others are cautiously optimistic that the judge will rule, not only in favor of the litigants but in favor of the bears themselves. Tom’s work has shown many people the value and beauty of  ‘nature alive’.

What Tom hangs on his wall is still out there, somewhere, living a wild and authentic life, only sharing the fleeting image of its existence!

The overview of today’s extended delay to the Idaho and Wyoming hunts can be found in this press release by the Western Environmental Law Center and WildEarth how can i order valtrex online Guardians.

Yellowstone grizzlies: Court blocks ID, WY trophy hunts for 14 more days

MISSOULA, Mont. —Today, a U.S. District Court judge extended a temporary restraining order to block planned grizzly bear trophy hunts in Idaho and Wyoming for 14 more days while he prepares a ruling. The judge may only renew a temporary restraining order such as this once, so if there is no decision in the case over the next 14 days, wildlife advocates will request an injunction stopping the hunt until a decision is made.

“We are gratified Yellowstone’s beloved bears are once again safe from trophy hunters’ bullets,” said Bethany Cotton, wildlife program director for WildEarth Guardians. “We look forward to the judge’s thoughtful resolution of the deep flaws with the feds’ removal of protections from these imperiled bears.”

“We appreciate that Judge Christensen is preventing any unnecessary bloodshed while he deliberates on this important case,” said Matthew Bishop, an attorney with the Western Environmental Law Center. “There is simply no need to rush into a grizzly bear hunt, with potentially devastating consequences for this iconic species, when the merits of that hunt are being reviewed in federal court.”

Background:

Grizzlies in the Yellowstone region remain threatened by dwindling food sources, climate change, small population size, isolation, habitat loss and fragmentation, and high levels of human-caused mortality. The Yellowstone population is isolated and has yet to connect to bears elsewhere in the U.S., including to bears in and around Glacier National Park. Grizzlies also have yet to reclaim key historic habitats, including the Bitterroot Range along the Montana-Idaho border.

Hunted, trapped, and poisoned to near extinction, grizzly bear populations in the contiguous U.S. declined drastically from nearly 50,000 bears to only a few hundred by the 1930s. In response to the decline, the Service designated the species as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1975, a move that likely saved them from extinction. The species has since struggled to hang on, with only roughly 1,800 currently surviving in the lower 48 states. Grizzlies remain absent from nearly 98 percent of their historic range. Last year (2017) marked the highest mortality for the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem’s grizzlies since their ESA listing.

Grizzly bear mortality in 2018 is proceeding at a record pace, even without the added mortalities from trophy hunting which would have claimed up to 22 more. At last count, approximately 690 grizzly bears resided in the Greater Yellowstone region, down from 2015’s count of 717 bears. The last three years had near record-breaking grizzly mortality, with at least 41 bears killed in 2017, and an additional 15 listed as probable mortalities. Of this, at least 32 were killed by humans, and humans were responsible for at least 9 of the 15 probable deaths. As of this writing, 42 grizzlies are on the 2018 known and probable mortalities list for the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem, far outpacing previous years’ rates.