SPOKANE, Wash. — While a woman was jogging through Riverside State Park on Saturday, she had an unexpected and startling encounter with a cougar.
Hillary Kaufman was jogging in the Bowl and Pitcher area of the park near trail 25. While on the trail, she saw something moving through the woods. She soon realized it was a cougar.
“I wasn’t sure if the cougar saw me because it was kind of running towards the river. Seemed like it was doing its own thing. So, I turned around, and kind of started jogging,” Kaufman said.
When she started jogging, she said that the cougar noticed her and turned its attention towards her.
“The cougar is starting to take a couple steps towards me. So, clearly if I keep running it’s just going to try and chase me. So, I turned around and I just threw my hands up in the air and yelled as loud as I could. ‘I’m going the other way! I’m going the other way!’ Just to try and scare it off. And then it stopped stepping towards me,” Kaufman said.
Kaufman reported the incident to three park rangers and warned others on the trail about the cougar.
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) cannot confirm that this is the same cougar that followed a cyclist on Oct. 18. This incident received a lot of media attention as that cougar is being tracked down and studied by the Kalispel Tribe.
At this time, that cougar is not being considered a threat to public safety.
“They [Kalispel Tribe] go out and haze it every few days to try to instill a fear of humans and dogs in it. That cougar, to date, has not been aggressive. It hasn’t approached people. People have just kind of happened to seen it,” Staci Lehman, the communication manager for DFW, said.
Lehman said that it is possible that the cougar, being studied, is a different one than Kaufman interacted with.
Lehman added that Kaufman’s response to the cougar was correct, as she made eye contact with the cougar and made loud noise to scare it off.
If you ever spot a cougar while you are out in the woods, Lehman stresses it is important to contact DFW at 360-902-2936.
“Anytime you are out in the woods, we recommend carrying bear spray. It’ll work on a bear, it’ll work on a cougar. We do encourage people to make a lot of noise, especially if you’re out hiking in the backwoods,” Lehman said.
For more information on Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s predator encounter map, visit their website.
