 The cougar is also protected across much of the rest of its range . As of 1996 , cougar hunting was prohibited in Argentina , Brazil , Bolivia , Chile , Colombia , Costa Rica , French <unk> , Guatemala , Honduras , Nicaragua , Panama , Paraguay , <unk> , Venezuela , and Uruguay . The cat had no reported legal protection in Ecuador , El Salvador , and <unk> . <unk> cougar hunting is still common in the United States and Canada , although they are protected from all hunting in the Yukon ; it is permitted in every U.S. state from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean , with the exception of California . Texas is the only state in the United States with a viable population of cougars that does not protect that population in some way . In Texas , cougars are listed as nuisance wildlife and any person holding a hunting or a trapping permit can kill a cougar regardless of the season , number killed , sex or age of the animal . <unk> animals are not required to be reported to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department . Conservation work in Texas is the effort of a non @-@ profit organization , <unk> Ecology Inc ( <unk> ) , as part of their Texas Mountain Lion Conservation Project . Cougars are generally hunted with packs of dogs , until the animal is ' treed ' . When the hunter arrives on the scene , he shoots the cat from the tree at close range . The cougar cannot be legally killed without a permit in California except under very specific circumstances , such as when a cougar is in act of pursuing livestock or domestic animals , or is declared a threat to public safety . <unk> are issued when owners can prove property damage on their livestock or pets . For example , multiple dogs have been attacked and killed , sometimes while with the owner . Many attribute this to the protection cougars have from being hunted and are now becoming <unk> to humans ; most are removed from the population after the attacks have already occurred . Statistics from the Department of Fish and Game indicate that cougar killings in California have been on the rise since the 1970s with an average of over 112 cats killed per year from 2000 to 2006 compared to six per year in the 1970s . They also state on their website that there is a healthy number of cougars in California . The Bay Area Puma Project aims to obtain information on cougar populations in the San Francisco Bay area and the animals ' interactions with habitat , prey , humans , and residential communities . 
