SPOKANE, Wash. – Another family on Spokane’s Upper South Hill has caught a glimpse of a predator prowling around their property early Monday morning.
Darin Zinnecker saw NonStop Local KHQ’s previous story on Monday about a cougar sighting near 41st Ave. and Havana St., and checked his security camera footage on the off-chance the cougar made its way to his neck of the woods near 41st Ave. and Glenrose Rd.
“Low and behold, I had a sighting on my camera on Monday about 1:30 in the morning,” Zinnecker said. “They’re just amazing animals, and to see something like that walking through your front yard is really special.”
The video shows the cougar walking along his porch and saunterbing back through the suburbs a couple minutes later.
“I mean, wow, what a majestic animal right?” Zinnecker said, when asked what he thought when watching the video for the first time. “Every once in a while we get deer or those types of things wandering through, but never a cougar, so that was really surprising.”
Staci Lehman with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) says there’s a good chance this is the same cougar spotted by another doorbell camera about a mile away overnight Sunday based off of the time and locations of the two sightings, but they’ve only gotten one official report to this point.
“So far it looks like it’s visited somebody’s front porch,” Lehman said. “I’ve seen the video where it walks up, looks around and leaves immediately, so that’s what we want a cougar to do.”
“We’re hearing second and third hand about more sightings, so we’re asking people to please report those to us,” Lehman continued. “There’s not a lot we can do with it if we don’t know about it, it’s really hard to track a cougar when it’s a day or two later.”
By law, each sighting report WDFW receives populates on an interactive map on their website, so people can see for themselves if they’ve had a cougar sighting nearby.
“It can be concerning, especially if you have children, cats or dogs, you want to make sure that your family is protected, and we get that,” Lehman said. “Safety is always number one.”
Lehman says WDFW officers aren’t actively pursuing the cougar at this point–since they’ve only gotten that singular report and it’s mostly minding its business.
“If it does–for whatever reason–stick around or start causing problems, we do want to be able to keep tabs on it and get those reports so we can respond if needed,” Lehman said.
While sightings are getting more and more common–especially as more people have doorbell cameras and urban interface continues to expand further into traditional wildlife habitats–Lehman emphasizes that cougar attacks are extremely rare.
Still, Darin Zinnecker says he’ll probably be looking twice the next time he’s out walking the dog or on a run.
“It definitely hits home a little closer when you see that kind of video so close to your house,” Zinnecker said.
Lehman suggested there are some things you can do to make your property less attractive to cougars, like not leaving trash with food scraps out for too long and feeding pets inside.
She also recommends making a lot of noise if you’re going outside late at night or early in the morning, and if you’re really concerned and want to be prepared, Lehman says carrying bear spray is never a bad idea.
For more information about what to do if you come across a cougar in your neighborhood or out in the wild, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has all kinds of information about preventing conflict with cougars on their website, which you can access by clicking here.
For WDFW’s interactive map showing cougar sightings across the state, click here.
To report a cougar sighting, call WDFW’s Region One Headquarters office in Spokane Valley at (509) 892-2001. WDFW says if it’s after hours, report cougar sightings to Washington State Patrol at (509) 227-6560.
