SPOKANE, Wash. – Residents in Spokane’s South Hill are on alert after a cougar was spotted near Manito Park this week. Wildlife officials only learned of the sighting after videos circulated online.
Staci Lehman from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) explained that social media often spreads news of wildlife sightings before they are reported to officials.
“We did have one sighting more in the Manitou Park area reported the other day. We didn’t have the one in the Hatch area reported,” Lehman said.
Doorbell camera footage and Nextdoor posts showed the cougar moving through South Hill neighborhoods, but only one sighting was reported to wildlife officials.
Lehman mentioned that gaps in reporting occur frequently, with social media picking up sightings that are not always called in.
“We do hear a lot of the time, we get a lot of calls from people who say, hey I saw on social media that there’s a cougar in my neighborhood, and sometimes we don’t always know about that,” Lehman said.
Local dog walker Emily Ladd noted that while sharing videos is common, reporting the sightings can be overlooked.
“I mean there’s a lot of culture around sharing videos of things like that, like turkey in your yard, or moose in the park, or whatever. That’s a lot of it. I think a lot of people don’t even think to report things like that,” Ladd said.
Some residents expressed concerns for their pets and children. Marcus Watlington, a South Hill resident, shared his worries.
“Well I’d be absolutely concerned…if there is a lot of kids that live around here, or there’s anybody that’s walking their dog late at night. You know people just tend to roam around this area, so the fact that we got no warning or any type of like notification, that is kind of concerning,” Watlington said.
Lehman assured that WDFW takes action before any harm occurs.
“We definitely aren’t going to wait for a person or an animal, like a pet, to be harmed. Generally we’ll just start to, we get several calls, we’ll have one of our officers go out and drive around, see if they see anything, check the areas where we heard it was last. Most of the time, by the time we respond, that animal is gone,” she said.
Lehman also suggested some safety measures for residents.
“You can install motion lights, and turn back your bushes so they don’t have a place to hide. If you have animals that go outside at night, you have a dog or a cat that you take outside, make noise when you go out, and go with them,” Lehman said. “Don’t just put them outside alone. Might not be great for your neighbors, but make some noise if you’re going out at night, just to let something know that you’re coming. Slam the door, or your car door, when you get out, things like that. Most animals do not want to be around us.”
WDFW urges anyone who spots a cougar, bear, or even a rogue turkey to report it by emailing wldcomm@dfw.wa.gov or calling their Spokane Valley office.
