Monroe family runs for cover after cougar appears, chasing cats around yard – KIRO 7 News Seattle
Surveillance video captured a wild encounter with a cougar in Monroe. The big cat ran out of the forest towards the Havener family home.
“It looked like a zoo animal suddenly appeared in our backyard,” April Havener said.
The video shows the cougar emerging from the woods on the edge of the family’s property and darting toward one of the family’s cats, Tortie. The cougar chases the cat to the house where April, her husband Greg, their nine-year-old daughter and two other family members were staying. The family’s second cat, Tuxie, was also in the area and can be seen running away from the cougar in the video.
The video shows the two cats fighting to get away with the cougar not far behind. In the video, you can see the cougar almost pause and look for a second at April and her daughter who were sitting nearby. Her daughter entered the house immediately.
“I could stretch my arms from front to back like this, it’s huge,” Greg said. “He came flying out of the forest over there. He crossed the entire yard here and then here, in the middle of all of us.
“I saw her walking away, so I bent down to pick up our new puppy,” April said. The two and the puppy managed to escape safely.
“I ran after him because I was going to get between him and my family,” Greg said.
The cougar took off and has not been seen since. One of the surprising parts of all this is that the cougar completely ignores the family’s flock of chickens that would have been an easy meal.
“I was surprised to see all the chickens go towards the animal and take a look and not run away, which is why they probably keep getting eaten,” Greg said. Both cats are fine.
“I feel like they both lost one of their lives,” Greg said.
KIRO 7 spoke with Brian Kertson of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, who explained that cougars tend to have tunnel vision when they’re hunting prey.
He said the cougar likely became frightened when it realized it was close to a house and humans.
“He’s targeting those house cats and then literally like he was at home, he realized where he was and this is happening in real time, so fast and they’re covering so much ground that I’m sure the cat was almost like wow, where did that come from? that house,” Kertson said.
WDFW said that in the last 100 years there have been two fatal cougar attacks in the state and 20 that resulted in injuries.
If you encounter a cougar, you should:
- Stop and pick up small children.
- Do not run. Running and quick movements can cause the animal to chase and perhaps attack.
- Face the cougar. Speak firmly to him as you slowly back away and make sure you leave an escape route for the animal.
- Do not take your eyes off the cougar or turn your back. Don’t crouch or hide.
- Do not approach the cougar.
- If the cougar doesn’t run away, be more assertive. Yell, wave your arms, and throw objects at the cougar to scare it.
- If the cougar attacks, fight back. Be aggressive and try to stay on your feet.
- Use bear spray or pepper spray if you have it.
