Actually, cat biologists will tell you that its the young and inexperienced that are the problem. Old, mature cougars have established territories and they don't typically deviant from those. They all tend to hold large territories and kill of interlopers. Young cats are still trying to establish themselves, so they tend to move around, looking for opportunities. They also more readily tolerate other young cougars living nearby. In short, then, but killing off the mature, established population, you invite a denser population of cats. That means they have to work harder for food (more 'cats at the table' means fewer rations for each) so they are more likely to push into the urban fringe and eat cats and dogs. As for the hunting 'bans' -- more cougars and black bears are killed per year AFTER than hound bans than before!! From WDFW: Cougar harvest has steadily increased since dogs were banned by I-655. The increase is probably most attributed to the overlap between cougar seasons and deer and elk seasons, and the relatively low cost of a cougar transport tag. The changes made in an effort to maintain harvest at levels similar to when dogs were used have been successful. The reduced cougar tag and overlapping seasons made purchasing a cougar tag more attractive for deer and elk hunters, and the sales of cougar licenses increased from less than 1,000 annually prior to I-655 to about 58,000 post I-655. This in turn created a situation where the majority of the harvest is now by deer and elk hunters that harvest a cougar incidentally during their deer or elk hunt.