Hayden woman has cougar close encounter

HAYDEN — In the 30 years Colleen Henry has lived at her Stonehaven Drive home in Hayden, she has never come face to face with a cougar.

Until Sunday.

She was watering her lawn in the morning sunshine when she looked up and suddenly realized she had a large feline visitor climbing up a deer path on the woodsy cliff on her property.

"I looked the thing straight in the eye. It was probably about 20 feet away," she said Monday. "I just dropped the hose and walked slowly and ran into the house and yelled at my husband. I could not believe it. I was just in shock."

Henry said although she was terrified, she didn’t feel threatened when she spied the young mountain lion. Once in the house, she and her husband watched it sprint across their yard and disappear near a neighbor's house on North Uplands Drive.

"When we saw it run across the street, that's how you could tell how big it was, and it was big," she said. "It was beautiful."

The Press reported that Kootenai County Sheriff's deputies responded to a cougar sighting near Baillie Street and Prairie Avenue in Dalton Gardens around 9:30 a.m Sunday. The deputies confirmed it was a young mountain lion before it ran north from the area. Another call came in 15 minutes later from a citizen who saw it near Tartan and Stonehaven drives.

KCSO referred the incident to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. Fish and Game spokesman Phil Cooper said cougar sightings are not uncommon, especially in locations that have large populations of whitetail deer.

"It's not really unusual for a mountain lion to come off Canfield Mountain" into city limits, he said. "We probably get a call every year or year and a half."

He said most cougars that wander off the mountain and into neighborhoods are either very old or very young. The older cats are just not as efficient at hunting as they used to be and will trek quite a way for food, while young males are vulnerable to being killed by other males and are seeking safety.

Cooper said there’s no need for alarm because humans are not prey animals.

"We hope the lion finds its way back out pretty quickly," he said.

If people do encounter a menacing cougar, Cooper said they should never turn their backs on it.

"Look it right in the eye," he said. "Make yourself look as big as you can look and don't start yelling. That could be a case where it could mistake you for a prey animal."

He said Fish and Game won't pursue cougars unless there’s an immediate danger. Tranquilizing and attempting to move a larger animal can be a risk in itself.

"We hope they are not seen again and they head back into a better location where they're safe and people aren't bothering them," Cooper said.