It speaks volumes that across cultural differences, humans have proclaimed at least eighty-six names upon one complex species for which we have shared the earth for thousands of years. No other animal known has received as many titles as the cougar. What could eighty-six names say about human relationships with the puma that may matter today? Out of the twenty-five North American names, the Chickasaws called cougar
Koe-Ishto, Cat of God.
ALLYSON FLAGG-MILLER, FOUNDING DIRECTOR OF ORECAT, COMPLETED TWO MASTERS IN NATURAL RESOURCES AT OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY WITH EMPHASIS ON THE COUGAR'S REGULATING SERVICES AND HUMAN WELLBEING. HER VALUABLE RESEARCH ON THE COUGAR INCLUDES THEIR MITIGATION OF LYME DISEASE AND OTHER PHENOMENAL ECOSYSTEM SERVICES AND FUNCTIONS. READ HER WORK WHICH COVERS SOCIAL, ENVIRONMENTAL AND ECONOMIC VALUATIONS COUGAR OFFER, AND WHY PROTECTING THE COUGAR IS THE GREATER GOOD FOR THE GREATER PART OF THE MASSES.
FOR A HARD COPY OF HER RESEARCH GO TO THE BELOW LINK. YOUTUBE AUDIO TO THIS DATA IS ALSO LINKED THROUGHOUT THIS WEBSITE.
ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/graduate_projects/6h441114x?locale=en
FOR A HARD COPY OF HER RESEARCH GO TO THE BELOW LINK. YOUTUBE AUDIO TO THIS DATA IS ALSO LINKED THROUGHOUT THIS WEBSITE.
ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/graduate_projects/6h441114x?locale=en
public cougar presentationsOreCat supports Traditional Ecological Knowledge. Working with Native American students at Chemawa School, OreCat was able to reenact ancient Elder cougar story in Native traditional dance. The above photo shows students drumming and dancing on the Captial steps. OreCat's director, Allyson Miller having some fun at a local pub PechaKucha. (click on the below link)www.pechakucha.com/presentations/the-greatest-good-for-the-greater-part-of-the-masses-is-to-stop-killing-the-cougar--184 |
ORECAT'S Guardian Dog Livestock Protection ProgramOreCat has a gifting program that places Great Pyrenees/Maremma Livestock and Guardian Dog puppies with small subsistence farmers or people who want a hiking buddy in the wilderness. Protecting the lives cougar one dog at a time! (click on the below link) ktvl.com/news/local/selma-farmer-raises-livestock-guardian-dogs |
OREGON COUGAR ACTION TEAM BELEIVES TRADITIONAL ECOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE (TEK)
Ancient Sedona Native American petrographs suggest that cougar co-habituated with humans for perhaps thousands of years before falling out of favor with the Euro-American culture. Five-hundred years of Western Euro-American words developed a culture of hierarchical systems that valued noncommunal wealth, and a spiritual status that demanded they conquer and overcome not only nature, but those of different cultures, spiritual views, and wealth systems.
Native Americans believed their kindred relationship with animals shaped their lives and created a sense of place in the universe, and on land that was communally owned. Animals played a central role in spiritual, individual, and communal cultural identity for which they expressed through their words and in ceremonial dances. Tools, clothing, lodges, and weapons made from animals were held in great reverence. But to this day, the origins of Western Euro American values demand that only the money made from the exploitation of animals and nature is of value. Until that is, a cougar crossed two major California freeways to make his home in Hollywood California’s Griffith Park, and got his picture in the pages of the National Geographic Magazine.
Citizens of Los Angele’s were thrilled to share edges of cityscapes with their beloved cougar, Puma 22 (P-22). And the combined efforts of California Department of Fish and Wildlife and university labs began extensive research into co-existing with this American lion. Some Native cultures considered the cougar to be a god, while others valued the puma as powerful totems.
Today, scientific inquiry is unlocking the American lions amazing ecological secrets and their linkage to human well-being. From petrograph to the cover of National Geographic Magazine, the citizens of Los Angeles, as may have Native Americans and their cougars, consider elements of P-22’s life and journey to his home in their city as near mystical. In retrospect, this single cougar may have changed forever California’s social, economic, and ecological perspectives of living with cougar. California uses different words and education for which to coexist with their cougars. They also do not hunt them. And because they have an educational cougar program, they do not have a cougar management plan. As a result, a State larger than Oregon, with more livestock, people and wildlife; have less cougar issues and livestock losses than Oregon. California also spends less money living with cougar, than Oregon does managing them.
Good, bad, or indifferent, attached to the cougar’s name is the umbilical cord of cultural connections to nature, community values, spiritual awareness, and reflection of identity, all of which intertwine with people’s lives, economies, and well-being.
Learn more at this link:
ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/graduate_projects/6h441114x?locale=en
Ancient Sedona Native American petrographs suggest that cougar co-habituated with humans for perhaps thousands of years before falling out of favor with the Euro-American culture. Five-hundred years of Western Euro-American words developed a culture of hierarchical systems that valued noncommunal wealth, and a spiritual status that demanded they conquer and overcome not only nature, but those of different cultures, spiritual views, and wealth systems.
Native Americans believed their kindred relationship with animals shaped their lives and created a sense of place in the universe, and on land that was communally owned. Animals played a central role in spiritual, individual, and communal cultural identity for which they expressed through their words and in ceremonial dances. Tools, clothing, lodges, and weapons made from animals were held in great reverence. But to this day, the origins of Western Euro American values demand that only the money made from the exploitation of animals and nature is of value. Until that is, a cougar crossed two major California freeways to make his home in Hollywood California’s Griffith Park, and got his picture in the pages of the National Geographic Magazine.
Citizens of Los Angele’s were thrilled to share edges of cityscapes with their beloved cougar, Puma 22 (P-22). And the combined efforts of California Department of Fish and Wildlife and university labs began extensive research into co-existing with this American lion. Some Native cultures considered the cougar to be a god, while others valued the puma as powerful totems.
Today, scientific inquiry is unlocking the American lions amazing ecological secrets and their linkage to human well-being. From petrograph to the cover of National Geographic Magazine, the citizens of Los Angeles, as may have Native Americans and their cougars, consider elements of P-22’s life and journey to his home in their city as near mystical. In retrospect, this single cougar may have changed forever California’s social, economic, and ecological perspectives of living with cougar. California uses different words and education for which to coexist with their cougars. They also do not hunt them. And because they have an educational cougar program, they do not have a cougar management plan. As a result, a State larger than Oregon, with more livestock, people and wildlife; have less cougar issues and livestock losses than Oregon. California also spends less money living with cougar, than Oregon does managing them.
Good, bad, or indifferent, attached to the cougar’s name is the umbilical cord of cultural connections to nature, community values, spiritual awareness, and reflection of identity, all of which intertwine with people’s lives, economies, and well-being.
Learn more at this link:
ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/graduate_projects/6h441114x?locale=en
Oregon does not have 6000 or 7000 cougar.To learn more about this listen to Allyson's OSU dissertation by clicking below: (102) The Cougar, The Tick, and Human Wellbeing - YouTube Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife count cougar kittens in the population counts, but not in the mortality counts. Reference in the YouTube presentation: ODFW cougar counts 3:54 Cougar bio and kittens 17:02 Cougar Kitten Mortality Stats: Reference 19:18 According to page 51 of Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s 2017 Cougar Management Plan, it states that Oregon has approximately 3,300 adult cougars and not 6,000 or 7,000. The apparent balance, 4,309, are a hypothetical cougar kitten population count, day one up to two years. Due to the high mortality rate of young wildlife, Fish and Game agencies do not count them in their population model counts. ODFW has singled out the cougar kitten, and unlike their deer and elk counts, has included the kitten in the adult population model count. ODFW does not count kitten mortality in their quota or harvest counts, yet kittens already dead or not yet born, are included in their cougar population model count. By counting an apparent hypothetical number of kittens, ODFW and the hound hunters have willingly misled the public in a blatant attempt to make it sound like Oregon is full of cougars. When in fact, Oregon has no more adult cougar than any other state. Adding fear and exploiting the cougar kittens for which to pass bills to kill cougar specifically with hounds, is not rational, nor is it honest. |
First Let'sDiscover why cougar matter
To learn more about this topic, click on the following link:
The Cougar, The Tick, and Human Wellbeing - YouTube Cougar mitigate Lyme Disease: Reference: 21:05 Cougar sterilize the ecosystems from disease: Reference: 23:33 |
Now let's WORKConserve and protect cougar
To learn more about this, click on the following link:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fiG5Soa1vM&t=1120s Cougar kitten trafficking: Reference 19:02 What are the risks and what are the benefits of coexisting with cougar? Reference: 27:46 |
IT'S UP TO USCougar Valuations, changing how we perceive cougar
To learn more about this, click on this link:
The Cougar, The Tick, and Human Wellbeing - YouTube Policy & Social infrastructures Reference: 28:11 |