Wild Animals in Oregon?

[haggardhouseelf]

Originally Posted by The Dish

What kinds of wild animals/critters are there in Oregon (specifically in the Eugene area)?

Where I live in Orange County, CA, we see coyotes, deer, rabbits, road runners, hawks, turkey vultures, skunks, raccoons, oppossums and mountain lions.

Oh -- and snakes!

If you go closer to the coast, you see little tiny dogs in purses.

What do I have to be afraid of in Oregon?

I'm a Texan and have spent the past several years moving up and down the west coast - CA, OR, WA - and now we live in Eugene. The scariest thing we've seen so far IN EUGENE have been these giant SLUGS. Wow!! I thought Texas was all about the BIG but these Oregon slugs are quite impressive! They even have a Queen!!! Slug Queen Eugene

Here is a good website to go to which has lots of links regarding domestic and wild animal services in Lane County. (Eugene is the county seat for Lane County.) Eugene Oregon : Planet Eugene Web Guide : Pets and Animals

Eugene is full of cat lovers. There is a very large group of mainly women who volunteer their time with various non-profits rescuing, neutering, spaying, vaccinating, feeding, etc. the always growing abandoned and feral cat colonies. There is a thrift store on River Road called Sarah's Treasures which helps find homes for cats and provide spay and neuter assistance. They have adoptable cats inside the thrift store that you can visit with - it's the only time my kids actually want to go to the thrift store with me! It's a cool place. The FCCO is very active here, and lots of smaller groups and even individuals who do an incredible amount of cat rescue work.

We feel it's best to keep our cats indoors regardless of where we live. Not only to protect them from birds of prey, raccoons, other feral cats or neighborhood cats, psycho neighborhood kids, cars and the crazy UPS trucks, and also things like ticks and fleas and worms and other parasites... but also to protect the birds and squirrels and other living things that our cats would naturally be inclined to hunt if they were allowed to do so. Cats live a longer, healthier, life when they are exclusively indoors. You don't have to give them as many vaccinations, and our cats never have to do flea treatments. You don't **** off your neighbors by allowing your cats to poop in their flowers or vegetable gardens. It keeps things more sanitary for you and your cats, keeping down the spread of disease and such. We let our cats out on an upstairs patio once thinking it would be OK... they brought in a live bat! I don't know who was more freaked out - me with a bat flying around my living room or the poor scared bat...

Anyway - love Larry's reply - the most dangerous things here truly are automobiles and trucks. So true, especially if you're on a bike! Yikes!

Wildlife in Eugene we have seen: bald eagles, turkey vultures, golden eagles, red-tailed hawks, American Kestrels, a few different kinds of owls... the coolest thing was when we saw a falcon swoop down to grab lunch from a neighbors koi pond. Yum! Deer... deer... and more deer.

We also see lots of deer (did I mention that already?) and wild turkeys. There was a big news story about Eugene's wild turkeys. We have black bear, and with all the new developments going on and being in bear country... loss of native habitat always means more human encounters with the wildlife that originally called this space their home. We saw a LOT of this in Washington state, and it's only a matter of time before it gets as bad here in Eugene because of all the new developments going on. It's very sad.

I've never seen a hobo spider, but they are here and I hear they are pretty nasty. I have seen black widow and brown recluse. Everyone will tell you that they are not here - but they are. Their markings are unmistakable and we have seen two in two different places in the city. People move here from the southern states and things are brought with them...

Lots of spiders here... some are very beautiful. Lots of orb weavers. I love them as long as they stay out of my house!

We have seen lots of very large nutria... they aren't people shy at all. Kind of freaky.

We have families of raccoons that live in the trees behind where we live. One is albino!

Lots and lots of birds. Eugene seems to be a stopping place for many types of migratory birds. This is a bird-watchers paradise.

Go get a field guide for Oregon. It will have lots of info there for you...

Oh - and we have DUCKS! Go DUCKS!

[furyu]

Originally Posted by Django1200

I'm preparing to move to the Willamette valley here in the next year. After watching a show on Animal Planet, my wife started to worry about our indoor/outdoor cat. We live in Ohio now and he comes home pretty beat up sometimes and that's just with other cats in the area. So my question is, with bears, bobcats and mountain lions living in the area, how in danger is our scrappy little cat?

Great danger!

Please consider making your indoor/outdoor kitty a completely indoor kitty. Really. Even if your cat never encountered a bear, a bobcat, a mountain lion or, more likely, a coyote, cats that roam outside are far more likely to be killed by dogs, hit by cars, or contract a disease which will shorten their life, and possibly decrease your bank account if you are inclined to take your cat to a vet. Also, raccoons are quite numerous throughout Oregon and they can be, and often are, very aggressive towards cats with deadly results.

Furthermore, roaming cats inflict terrible damage on our increasingly imperiled bird population.

There is no reason to let a cat wander outside. If a person has a fenced yard area and they wish to let their cat out for a while, under a watchful eye (cats are great escape artists given their ability to jump ten-times their own height), that's one thing, but to a let a cat roam recklessly is just irresponsible in our day & age. Dogs are no longer allowed to wander around loose, unleashed--something that was common when I was growing up. There is no good reason to let your cat outside and numerous great reasons not to.

Many communities require the licensing of cats. I know in Brookings, OR we now do, although enforcement of this new ordinance is quite 'hit-or-miss' in its early stage. This ordinance came about after numerous complaints to various authorities regarding wandering cats using neighbors' yards as litter boxes, or prowling/howling at night.

So please do consider keeping your cat inside. Since you are moving to a new location, your cat will be very disoriented at first and could very easily wander away never to be found again (unless you have him chipped?). It would be a good and no doubt easy time to train him to stay indoors happily. I have five cats that stay inside who were all, at one time, feral or otherwise outdoor kitties. After a little acclimation and plenty of human attention, they are all very happy here in their safe and secure home.

[SIMONSDEBBIE]

Last night after watching the news I turned off the lights and looked out the sliding glass door into the backyard. At first I thought it was a cat walking past the door but is was a skunk. That bushy black and white tail was headed over to the bird feeder area. This was in the middle of a built up neighborhood. Hope there is not many of those.

[Busch71]

Originally Posted by Imperial1904

Deer... they run rampant throughout the state.

Try living in eastern Iowa for a while and you'll find new meaning for the word rampant.

[uiier]

During our time in Eugene the most of anything we have seen are the hordes of squirrels! That and the nightly raccoons we see, I always try to say Hi but they give me the stink eye a lot.

haggardhouseelf you MUST get a picture of the albino, I would love to see it! Ia m trying to take good pictures of the local raccoons, but they run from me...punks

[haggardhouseelf]

I wish I would have thought about taking pictures of our raccoons... we had a growing family coming to visit for awhile. We gave them the ends of our loaves of sandwich bread that we never ate. The albino was the largest one, he (or she?) was awesome.

We live in an apartment community right now, and a little while ago the manager had all the feral and stray cats and raccoons trapped. I'm not sure what happened to them, and honestly I'm afraid to ask. Isn't that sad?

I hope that they had all the cats neutered and spayed and then released them into a safe place somewhere, another cat colony, where they can live a better life. And I hope that the raccoons were released somewhere out in the woods or someplace where they can also live a happy raccoon life.

But, somehow I'm not sure that that's what was done with these poor animals.

[uiier]

Originally Posted by haggardhouseelf

I wish I would have thought about taking pictures of our raccoons... we had a growing family coming to visit for awhile. We gave them the ends of our loaves of sandwich bread that we never ate. The albino was the largest one, he (or she?) was awesome.

We live in an apartment community right now, and a little while ago the manager had all the feral and stray cats and raccoons trapped. I'm not sure what happened to them, and honestly I'm afraid to ask. Isn't that sad?

I hope that they had all the cats neutered and spayed and then released them into a safe place somewhere, another cat colony, where they can live a better life. And I hope that the raccoons were released somewhere out in the woods or someplace where they can also live a happy raccoon life.

But, somehow I'm not sure that that's what was done with these poor animals.

I hope so too, we live in an apartment complex now and the raccoons are always coming around, I hope they leave them alone or make it more undesirable for them to stay. Nothing worse then killing them