Editing Cougar (section)

===Predation on domestic animals===
[[File:The Cougar Hunt (1920s silent film).webm|right|thumb|''[[s:The Cougar Hunt|The Cougar Hunt]]'', a 1920s silent film created by the [[United States Department of Agriculture]] which explains the procedures to successfully hunt livestock-threatening cougars]]

During the early years of ranching, cougars were considered on par with wolves in destructiveness. According to figures in [[Texas]] in 1990, 86 calves (0.0006% of Texas's 13.4&nbsp;million cattle and calves), 253 mohair goats, 302 mohair kids, 445 sheep (0.02% of Texas's 2&nbsp;million sheep and lambs) and 562 lambs (0.04% of Texas's 1.2&nbsp;million lambs) were confirmed to have been killed by cougars that year.<ref name="NASS-cattle">{{cite web |url=http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda/nass/Catt//1990s/1990/Catt-07-27-1990.pdf |title=Cattle report 1990 |publisher=National Agricultural Statistics Service | access-date=September 11, 2009 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608154849/http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda/nass/Catt//1990s/1990/Catt-07-27-1990.pdf | archive-date=June 8, 2011 |df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref name="NASS-sheep-goats">{{cite web |url=http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda/nass/SheeGoat//1990s/1990/SheeGoat-02-02-1990.pdf |title=Sheep and Goats report 1990 |publisher=National Agricultural Statistics Service | access-date=September 11, 2009 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608154900/http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda/nass/SheeGoat//1990s/1990/SheeGoat-02-02-1990.pdf | archive-date=June 8, 2011 |df=mdy-all}}</ref> In [[Nevada]] in 1992, cougars were confirmed to have killed nine calves, one horse, four foals, five goats, 318 sheep, and 400 lambs. In both reports, sheep were the most frequently attacked. Some instances of [[surplus killing]] have resulted in the deaths of 20 sheep in one attack.<ref name="Livestock">{{cite web |url=http://www.aws.vcn.com/mountain_lion_fact_sheet.html |title=Mountain Lion Fact Sheet |publisher=Abundant Wildlife Society of North America |access-date=July 10, 2008 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120720162250/http://www.aws.vcn.com/mountain_lion_fact_sheet.html |archive-date=July 20, 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> A cougar's killing bite is applied to the back of the neck, head, or [[Throat clamp|throat]] and the cat inflicts puncture marks with its claws usually seen on the sides and underside of the prey, sometimes also shredding the prey as it holds on. Coyotes also typically bite the throat, but the work of a cougar is generally clean, while bites inflicted by coyotes and dogs leave ragged edges. The size of the tooth puncture marks also helps distinguish kills made by cougars from those made by smaller predators.<ref name="Predation">{{cite web |url=http://agrilife.org/texnatwildlife/predators-and-predation/predator-species/cougars/ |title=Cougar Predation – Description |publisher=Procedures for Evaluating Predation on Livestock and Wildlife |access-date=August 3, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110111165333/http://agrilife.org/texnatwildlife/predators-and-predation/predator-species/cougars/ |archive-date=January 11, 2011}}</ref>

Remedial hunting appears to have the paradoxical effect of increased livestock predation and complaints of human-cougar conflicts. In a 2013 study, the most important predictor of cougar problems was the remedial hunting of cougars the previous year. Each additional cougar on the landscape increased predation and human-cougar complaints by 5%, but each animal killed during the previous year increased complaints by 50%. The effect had a dose-response relationship with very heavy (100% removal of adult cougars) remedial hunting, leading to a 150–340% increase in livestock and human conflicts.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Effects of Remedial Sport Hunting on Cougar Complaints and Livestock Depredations |author1=Peebles, Kaylie A. |author2=Wielgus, Robert B. |author3=Maletzke, Benjamin T. |author4=Swanson, Mark E. |journal=PLOS ONE |date=November 2013 |volume=8 |issue=11 |pages=e79713 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0079713 |pmid=24260291 |pmc=3834330 |bibcode=2013PLoSO...879713P|doi-access=free}}</ref> This effect is attributed to the removal of older cougars that have learned to avoid people and their replacement by younger males that react differently to humans. Remedial hunting enables younger males to enter the former territories of the older animals.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Cougar attacks on humans in the United States and Canada |author=Beier, Paul |journal=Wildlife Society Bulletin |volume=19 |issue=4 |pages=403–412 |year=1991 |jstor=3782149}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Mountain lion and human activity in California: testing speculations |author1=Torres SG |author2=Mansfield TM |author3=Foley JE |author4=Lupo T |author5=Brinkhaus A |year=1996 |journal=Wildlife Society Bulletin |volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=451–460 |jstor=3783326}}</ref> Predation by cougars on dogs "is widespread, but occurs at low frequencies".<ref>{{cite book |editor-last1=Gompper |editor-first=Matthew E. |author1=Butler, James R. A. |author2=Linnell, John D. C. |author3=Morrant, Damian |author4=Athreya, Vidya |author5=Lescureux, Nicolas |author6=McKeown, Adam |chapter=5: Dog eat dog, cat eat dog: social-ecological dimensions of dog predation by wild carnivores |title=Free-ranging dogs and wildlife conservation |date=2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=127}}</ref>