UNITED STATES-MOUNTAIN CATS KILLING CALVES.
Since November 2006, Yell County farmer Bill Berry and his friends and neighbors have been mystified by attacks on Berry ’s cattle at his farm on Bethel Road in Dardanelle.
Ed Williams and John Rego, two of Berry’s employees, said last week that 7 or 8 calves worth about $10,000 had been killed in attacks during the last two years.
A neighboring farm has also had three calves disappear during the same time frame. Finding the someone or something to take responsibility for the attacks and disappearances has proved difficult, however.
Williams and Rego believe, based on wounds they observed on the cattle, tracks they’ve found and a still photograph taken by a game camera, that the offender is a mountain lion.
In February 2007, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission even granted a permit allowing Berry and his employees to shoot or trap mountain lions on the property after Game and Fish officials visited the farm and inspected evidence provided by Berry and his employees.
However, Williams and Rego say that is the last help they have received from AGFC. Not long after the initial permit was granted, the same Game and Fish official who signed the permit requested it be returned, Rego said.
"Game and Fish said ... to call the Yell County sheriff," Rego said.
Another incident occurred when Williams said he found a dead mountain lion cub in the woods on the Berry property. The cub had been killed by another animal, possibly one of the other mountain lions, he speculated.
Blake Sassy, AGFC’s statewide coordinator for non-game mammals, said Friday there have been no recent reports of mountain lion activity.
"I’m personally not aware of anything that might have come in or someone might have contacted us from that area," Sassy said. "We don’t believe there’s a reproducing population of mountain lions here in Arkansas at this time."
Sassy went on to explain there was a possibility of a few, free-ranging mountain lions, such as escaped pets or migrants from neighboring states.
"There’s a slim possibility that one might have migrated up from the nearest population in southern Texas ," he said.
Rego was hired by Berry to hunt the mountain lions on the property since the initial attacks on the cattle in late 2006. A retired military man and accomplished sport hunter, Rego said the mountain lions haven’t been easy to shoot.
"I’ve had one good shot at one of the full-grown cats," Rego explained, "but she jumped right as I shot at her, and I only hit her in the foot."
After the encounter, Rego said the cat didn’t appear again for around six weeks and he and Williams began seeing tracks with only three toes, indicating that the shot may have severed one of the animal’s toes.
Rego said he has now been targeted by area officials, who have accused him of poaching deer when he hunts the mountain lions at night. He said he has been harassed on numerous occasions, with authorities searching his truck and threatening to arrest him more than once.
"Once they told me they were going to call the ATF on me," said Rego, "but I have researched the laws in Arkansas , and there are no laws or fines against killing mountain lions in this state."
For now, Berry and his employees continue to be on the lookout for mountain lions on the property as they hope for a successful resolution to their problem.
