Cougar caught in Seattle released into the wild

[depakid]

Source: Seattle PI


A male cougar is housed in a temporary cage after it was captured in Seattle's Discovery Park on Sunday. It had lived in Seattle for more than two weeks and forced the city's largest park to close. The cougar was returned to the wild, state wildlife officials said.
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A Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife staffer uses a dog to chase a male cougar, right, after its release in the Cascade foothills near Skykomish. The cougar was captured in a closed Discovery Park on Sunday. The cougar apparently lived in Seattle for more than two weeks and forced the city's largest park to close. He was immobilized with a tranquilizer after hunting dogs treed it, Fish and Wildlife Capt. Bill Hebner said.
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A cougar that apparently had lived in Seattle for more than two weeks and forced the city's largest park to close was captured early Sunday and returned to the wild, state wildlife officials said. The cougar was immobilized with a tranquilizer in Discovery Park about 2:30 a.m. after hunting dogs treed it, Department of Fish and Wildlife Capt. Bill Hebner said. An enforcement officer and the dogs tracked the animal after authorities were told it had been spotted Saturday night, the latest sighting in or near the 534-acre preserve, he said.

The cougar is a 2 1/2-year-old male, weighs 140 pounds and is in very good health, Capt. Bill Hebner said. After examining the animal, wildlife agents drove it to be released in the Cascade foothills near Skykomish, about 45 miles northeast of Seattle. "It's a very good prospect for relocation," Hebner said. "It wasn't aggressive or stalking people, and it maintained its natural respect for the wild." The park reopened late Sunday morning, city parks spokeswoman Joelle Ligon said.

The animal likely preyed on house cats during its time in the park, Hebner said. Earlier, he noted the heavily forested park was a perfect urban retreat for the cougar because there's no competition for the territorial animal. There's also plenty of food in the form of rabbits and other small animals, along with neighborhood pets.

Read more: http://www.seattlepi.com/local/409888_cougar06.html

[Strong Atheist]

1. Ah, this was about CATS.... nt.

[progressoid]

12. How's this...

[Strong Atheist]

17. Nice pic,

but still not the thought that sprang to mind based on the title...


:rofl:

[progressoid]

29. Oh, I see.

You're a helicopter aficionado right?

[Ian David]

2. That doesn't look like Stiffler's Mom. n/t

[daveHogan]

4. lol

stiffler's mom is hot.

[d_b]

8. oooh finchy

[Cleita]

3. I wish my community was this enlightened.

The Fish and Wildlife keeps killing them if they get into wetland areas because there are also vacationers. They are looking to pick off a few ducks and other marshland birds. The Sierra Club is fighting them, but.......

[customerserviceguy]

19. In Seattle

you practically have to get a permit to swat a mosquito.

[nolabear]

5. Ain't he a beauty?

I used to do wildlife rehab. Saw him on the local news and was so glad he was healthy and they could scare the daylights out of him and take him far enough away that he might have a life. There was another much sadder story today as well only about 20 miles from where this cougar was caught. Sadly, this one was killed on Highway 520, only a mile or so from the Microsoft campus. One of these days I fear there won't be room for them anywhere.

[Mithreal]

6. He thought John Mellencamp was gonna be at Bumbershoot. nt

[Triana]

7. Well at LEAST they didn't kill the poor thing, so he has a fighting chance...

...these poor animals have so few places to go as it is.

Good on them for not resorting to killing him.

[troubledamerican]

9. Proud to say, Seattle isn't Texas. Thank Christ.

Not as good as Canada's civilized humanism, but almost.

[Paladin]

26. Proud To Say: I'm A Texan Who's Glad This Big Cat Got A Second Chance.

Not as good as Seattle's snot-nosed elitism, but....it'll do......

[WriteDown]

27. Not any of those pesky brown people in Seattle either...

http://www.blackpast.org/?q=perspectives/gentrification-integration-or-displacement-seattle-story

[Lagomorph]

10. Have you been to Western Washington?

There is lots of room for Big Cats. If this guy is in Seattle, he's an adventurer or there must be a lot of Big Cats in the mountains.

[customerserviceguy]

20. It mystifies me how he got from cougar country

to an urban park completely surrounded for many miles by a bustling city.

[haele]

21. Lots of greenbelt around Seattle.

He probably followed the lake around from the north, staying with the bike trails and woodland style parks, especially along the old rail right-of way (prime berry-picking route when I was growing up!). He wouldn't have to spend a lot of time in city environs.

Haele

[customerserviceguy]

22. I lived there in the mid-1970's

and I just don't remember an obvious route to Discovery Park. When you say "the lake" I assume you're talking about Lake Washington, but how he got across Shilshole Bay would be a bit of a mystery.

[Matariki]

31. Down the railroad tracks most likely

They run along the coast by the park. It was probably how the bears got here too. That's the theory anyway.

[Lagomorph]

28. That would be my guess.

The rail right of way, power lines, or the Interurban trail. There are also trails that lead from Seattle right into the heart of the hills. Seattle seems big and crowded when you're standing on concrete in the middle of it, but it's really a small part of the overall environment. Outside the city, it's all trees and fields if you wander more than a block away from a road. Anywhere there are squirrels, there is a food source.

[XemaSab]

11. Good news

unless you live near Skykomish. x(

[mrs_p]

16. there are lots of cats there already

no big deal

[comtec]

13. AAwwww what a cute kitty to huggle and snuggle....

after about 5 POUNDS of catnip!
I'm glad they didn't kill him.
I suppose the test is that he didnt kill any people or pets - that we know of.
eating pets is a maybe, but killing people is a instant kill, im afraid.
I'm glad he's safe.
We need to keep wild lands wild and safe for the animals that live there.
and yes.. thank goodness this is NOT texas!

Sorry Texans... but you know as well as I do, that kitty would be dead, skinned, tanned, and re-stuffed on someone's mantle if it was.

[ellie]

14. I hope they

were able to kiss him on the top of his head before they let him go. What a cutie!

[mrs_p]

15. funny! the same thing happened ~25 years ago

you can still see the scratch marks on a madrone on the northern side of the bluffs. they think that cat also travelled up the rail line to the park.

[slackmaster]

18. The cat looks pretty mad in both pics!

Good story. I hope the cat stays away from people.

[StarryNite]

23. Thanks for posting this

It's always nice to hear of a happy ending. All to often these animal stories don't end that way.

[Kaleva]

24. Older women best stay away from Seattle

[bikebloke]

25. I used to go to that park all the time.

Once when I was exploring the woods above the cliffs, I ran into a crazy German bloke who was tenting in there. The park rangers gave him a couple days to leave, so he was going to stay until the last minute. When he started his christo-nutter spiel, I said tchuss and left. Maybe they sent to cougar in to eat him.

[Matariki]

30. A while back, a bunch of crows chased a coyote down 1st Ave. into the Federal Building elevator

and there were a couple bears running around the University district last year.

Ah, Seattle.

I'm not making that up about the coyote: http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&=&q=seattle+coyote+federal+building&aq=f&oq=&aqi=