SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash. – Herb Anderson lives in the Spokane Valley neighborhood of Northwood, a heavily-wooded area abundant with wildlife. With Halloween around the corner, he’s concerned about the kids who will be out, especially with multiple cougar sightings over the last three months.“We had a bear last Halloween, it was very aggressive,” Anderson said. “Makes me really nervous to think there’s a cougar.”The Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife (WDFW) say they’ve heard about the cougar sightings in Northwood, however with no reported sightings since September, the cougar might’ve moved on.“Generally that’s what cougars will do,” Staci Lehman with the WDFW said. “You might have a couple sightings and then they’re out of the area moving on. They’re very transient creatures.”Lehman said cougar sightings are rare, and cougar encounters are even rarer. However, if you come across a cougar, there are steps you should take.“Number one thing: don’t run,” Lehman said. “Running triggers the instinct in an animal to chase, so don’t run, face the animal… you want to make eye contact and slowly back away. Give them some space to go somewhere else… by you backing up it takes the pressure off of them. If it doesn’t move or it approaches you, make yourself look as big as possible. Put you arms over your head or if you’re wearing a costume – maybe you have a cape on – put it up over your head or your jacket so you look as big as you can to physically be imposing to that animal. If it continues to approach, throw anything you have at it – your bag of candy, water bottle, whatever you have. Yell at it, let it know that you aren’t prey, that you are aggressive and you’re not scared.”Locals like Anderson think the public should be armed with this knowledge, to stay safe this Halloween.“It does seem like a recipe for disaster,” he said.
