H.F. 117 Section 1. NEW SECTION . 481A.49 Cougars. 1 The commission shall not establish a season for hunting 2 cougars. 3 Sec. 2. NEW SECTION . 481B.5A Cougars —— taking prohibited. 4 1. A person shall not take or attempt to take a cougar. 5 2. This section does not prohibit any of the following: 6 a. A person acting to carry out an order issued by a court. 7 b. A licensed veterinarian practicing veterinary medicine as 8 provided in chapter 169. 9 c. An action to protect private property from damage as 10 provided by rules adopted by the department. The action may 11 be conducted by the department of natural resources, including 12 a wild animal depredation biologist, or by an agricultural 13 producer suffering financial losses from the destruction of 14 livestock. 15 d. A person reasonably acting to protect a person from 16 injury or death caused by a cougar. 17 EXPLANATION 18 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with 19 the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly. 20 This bill provides that a person is prohibited from taking 21 or attempting to take a cougar. A taking includes wounding, 22 killing, trapping, capturing, or collecting (Code section 23 481B.1). The bill provides for a number of exceptions. 24 A person violating the prohibition is guilty of a simple 25 misdemeanor (Code section 481B.10). A simple misdemeanor is 26 punishable by confinement for no more than 30 days or a fine of 27 at least $65 but not more than $625 or by both. 28 -1- LSB 1901HH (1) 86 da/sc 1/ 1