Cougar sightings put agencies on alert

By BRIAN WALKER

Staff Writer

POST FALLS — When Jordan Root came eye to eye with a cougar on Monday night, the cat didn't scat.

"I backed down the trail still facing the cougar while it followed," said Root, referring to the 10- to 15-foot encounter behind his home on Rutledge Court in the Armstrong Park subdivision on the east side of Coeur d'Alene.

Root said he told his wife to take their three dogs to the house with her.

"It started coming down the trail at me so I started throwing rocks at it and making noise," Root said. "The last rock I threw either hit it or was big enough to scare it back a few feet. I hurried down the hill after that and it stayed at the edge of the brush hissing louder and louder at us until we got back to the house."

The sighting was the latest of a series of recent cougar reports in urban areas of Kootenai County.

Post Falls is on cougar watch after the report of a cougar and two cubs in the area of Black Bay Park on Thursday followed up two sightings of a single cat in the same vicinity in early May.

"It's concerning whether they are taking up a presence in a den or just passing through," Post Falls Police Chief Pat Knight said. "We are working with an individual to set up game cameras so we can tell what's going on."

Knight said it’s possible the cougar reported twice in May may be the same one spotted last week — except now it has cubs.

He said a homeowner on Wide River Road off Idaho Street near the southwest side of the park made the latest report.

The reported sighting was during the day, Knight said.

Post Falls is collaborating with Idaho Department of Fish and Game on the sightings. Signs have been posted in the park, warning visitors.

Chip Corsi, IDFG regional supervisor, said cougars found in urban areas will generally be euthanized by IDFG and the agency will authorize local law enforcement to do so. He said cougars are the same as mountain lions.

Corsy said using narcotics to capture and release cougars comes with risks, including what the animal may do before the drug kicks in and the possibility of losing a dart with a drug that's dangerous to humans.

"With a healthy wild population of lions and the risk that lions accustomed to living in urban areas pose to human safety, the prudent approach is to euthanize those animals," Corsi said. "Lions that figure out how to make a living in and around developed areas are often making a living on pets and pose a risk to public safety."

For safety reasons, IDFG does not authorize the public to euthanize lions in urban areas. Most cities have laws against discharge of firearms anyway.

"That said, Idaho law does allow one to defend against bodily harm if there is an attack," Corsi said.

Precautions people can take if a cougar is believed to be in the vicinity include staying away from it, keeping pets inside or on leashes when outside, and not letting small kids wander outside alone.

Corsi said Craig Walker, IDFG regional conservation officer, went to the park last week with PFPD after the report was made, but the cougars weren't seen.

"If there was one, we have no way of knowing if it is the same one as previously reported," he said.

Corsi said cougars are often more active at dawn and dusk, or even after dark, but they can also be active during the day depending on conditions.

IDFG leaves it up to "individual discretion" whether to visit the park. Cougar sightings in urban areas are neither routine nor rare, Corsi said.

The sighting at Armstrong Park in Coeur d'Alene north of Interstate 90 was the second report this month in that area. The first sighting was on July 2 in the 3700 block of East Sky Harbor Drive.