Cougars euthanized in Silverton, The Dalles

Published 7:30 pm Monday, March 19, 2018

Oregon wildlife officials euthanized two cougars this week, the first after sightings in Silverton that closed The Oregon Garden and the second in The Dalles that was found in an under construction hotel room.

The subadult cougar in Silverton had been spotted by a woman walking through the wetlands of the botanical garden, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife officials said. The site was closed Wednesday, and ODFW trapped and killed the animal soon after.

“The cougar was euthanized because it was considered a public safety risk,” ODFW spokeswoman Michelle Dennehy said. “That basically means they’ve killed livestock, pets or have been seen repeatedly in broad daylight. Cougars are normally afraid of people, and if they’re not, that indicates something isn’t right.”

Then on Tuesday, a two-year-old male cougar was found in a room under construction at the Oregon Motor Motel in The Dalles.

ODFW responded after a call from city police and found the animal trapped in the small room. They determined the cougar was a public safety risk and sedated it with a dart gun through a vent in the wall, then took it off-site and killed it.

Cougars are becoming a more common sight in towns such as Silverton, which are close to a forested area and food, Dennehy said, and have long been part of life on the outskirts of The Dalles in the late winter.

“But a cougar coming this far into downtown, into the business district and deep into a hotel complex, and not showing fear of people or wariness of urban environments? That’s just extremely odd,” said Jeremy Thompson, ODFW district wildlife biologist, in a press release. “This may have been a cougar that was unable to establish its own home range in its natural habitat.”

The Dalles cougar was the sixth euthanized by the state agency in 2018 because of public safety concerns, according to a press release.

Oregon’s cougar population has rebounded from a low of around 200 animals in the late 1960s to more than 6,000 today, The Statesman Journal reported.

Encounters between people and cougars are rare. There has never been a confirmed attack by a wild cougar on a person in Oregon, Dennehy said.

“Seeing more cougars is part of a larger trend, especially in northwest Oregon, but people don’t need to be alarmed,” Dennehy said. “Just consider keeping pets indoors at night. If you do encounter a cougar, make yourself look big and don’t run away from it.”

Cougars were hunted to almost extinction in Oregon until 1957, when they were reclassified as a game animal. Hunting cougars is still allowed, but it’s more restricted and there’s a closely monitored bag limit.

In 1994, Oregon voters outlawed hunting cougars with dogs.