Cougar Spotted In Park On River In The Tri-Cities

The Police Department here is warning joggers and pet owners to be cautious because a cougar was spotted in a park along the Columbia River over the weekend.

“One of the officers thought he saw a dog and turned his flashlight on it,” Capt. Mark Panther said Monday.

“The thing stood up - it was much bigger than a dog and it had a long tail. It ran up a tree. …”

The sighting occurred early Sunday in Leslie Groves Park. The big cat was gone when officers checked later in the day.

State Department of Fish and Wildlife agents, including a cougar tracker with a tranquilizer gun, failed to turn up additional evidence of the animal on Monday.

“If people see it, we want to know about it,” Panther said. “We hope it leaves the area. There are a lot of people who use that park.”

Steve Pozzanghera, a state biologist in Olympia who manages black bear and cougar programs, said the park-prowling cougar likely is a younger male forced out of territory that is hunted and dominated by an older male.

“There’s good cover all along the river,” Pozzanghera said. “He’s probably just looking for his own territory. He just bumped into a place where it will be hard to make a living.”