I Heard There Was a Cougar!

Last night there was an awesome presentation by Western Wildlife at our school. Unfortunately, there were only a handful of people there, and the information that could have benefited hundreds in our neighborhood was delivered to the few of us that already were pretty educated on how to coexist with large carnivores. My initial plan was to reflect on the three days I spent at camp but instead I will be talking about living with wildlife. Why? As a realtor I work primarily with clients living in areas where they share their living space with bears, cougars, bobcats and coyotes and I believe it is vital to understand what that means.

Earlier this week someone spotted a cougar in our neighborhood about 350 yards from our front door. This is the third cougar sighting I have heard of in our neighborhood. The first one was eight years ago when the sheriff stopped a dog walker and sent them back home due to a cougar sighting. The second time was maybe a year or two later when one had killed some livestock down the road and the third one was this week. Cougars don’t hang out in our back yards, they do not want to be seen and they for sure do not hunt for humans. The only cougar I have ever seen in the wild was up in Whistler when we spotted one resting in the sun on a cliff about 200 feet above us.

There are approximately 7.6 million people in our state. We share our state with 50,000 coyotes, 25,000 black bears, 2,100 cougars, 70 grizzlies and about 100 grey wolves. Yet, since 1924 there has been 1 person killed by a black bear and 2 killed by a cougar in Washington state. Deer end up killing around 200 people annually in a traffic accident in the United States, and there are 19,000 accidents involving a deer every year. They say that you are 1,000 times more likely to be struck by a lighting than being attacked by a cougar.

Our big predators are scary, and you should most definitely respect them and their space but the likelihood of them going after you, if you behave correctly is slim. When out in the wilderness, carry bear spray. Bear spray will work on pretty much anything without causing permanent damage meaning in the event that a bear or a cougar attacked your dog or your friend you could spray them both. The bikers that got attacked by a cougar in the spring would most likely have been saved if they had been carrying bear spray with them, and if they did not run. There is no way of outrunning or pedaling away from either bears or cougars. They will be faster than you are and as all cats have an instinct of chasing things, running will only make you more interesting to them. A bear easily runs 35 mph, a cougar 40 to 50 mph and the fastest running human Usain Bolt makes about 28 mph in a 100 yard sprint, I bet my fastest sprint would be about 10 mph. So, do not run! Ever.

I have yet to see a bear, bobcat or a cougar on the trails and I’m on our trails all the time. But I talk to the dog, sing a song, clap my hands every now and then and the pup carries tags that make quite a bit of noise as we are walking. I am trying to make sure that I sound, as much as I can like a human. I pay attention to my surroundings and I would never stick earbuds in my ears and listen to music as I would rather want to hear if I am approaching something or being approached by someone. I have seen coyotes, owls and all sorts of small creatures though. The coyote I saw seemed quite annoyed by running into me, but after deciding that I wasn’t going to go after it and Martha wasn’t interested in it either it just kept going down the trail. I do keep seeing scats (poop) left behind by coyotes and bears and I have seen cougar tracks a few times too though. So, I know they are there but neither one of us are too eager to run into each other on the trail and I’m planning on keeping it that way. However, bears and bobcats have been frequent visitors around my house. After all our neighbors agreed to either lock their trashcans or keep them inside our bear sightings have gone down quite a bit as we are no longer offering the easy food. Bobcats on the other hand still pass through our yard in the early morning hours.

So why not just hunt them or relocate them to make it easier on all of us? Because hunting the ones that we currently live with would only open space for new ones to move in. This is called creating a territorial vacancy, you know like me selling a house, one owner moves out and the next one moves in. Relocation has the same issue, but the additional problem is that they would likely be invading another carnivores space and only return or try to return to where it was relocated from. It is our job to learn to live with these guys and it is our job to keep them wild and afraid of humans. Cougars and bobcats will stay wild, but bears tend to see us as a source of food if we keep feeding them. Whether it’s bird feeders, trashcans or pet food the bears see it as a free buffet set up by the nice humans.

It is a privilege, not a threat to get to live with these creatures.

Learn more at Western Wildlife Outreach

Reported bear sightings in the past two years.