A trio of cougars spotted in a forested Yachats neighborhood Tuesday night are most likely a mother and two yearling offspring passing through the area, an Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife biologist said Thursday.
A homeowner on Horizon Hill Road reported to ODFW on Thursday that her security camera took pictures of three cougars walking past her house.
Cougar sightings in rural, forested neighborhoods are not unusual, said Greg Reed, an ODFW wildlife biologist based in Newport, but there have not been any recently in the Yachats area.
Typically, Reed said, a sighting of three cougars would be of a mother and two cubs, who would likely be 1- to 2- years old. Based on the homeowner’s picture, the cubs could be male and weigh 70-90 pounds – often as big as their mother.
Young males begin to disperse during their second year of life, Reed said, sometimes going off on their own but then returning occasionally to roam with the mother.
Reed said it’s not a surprise to see cougars occasionally in an area like the Horizon Hill neighborhood, which borders national forests and private timberlands.
Reed said ODFW would only be concerned if the cougars showed up in a neighborhood during the day. “If they’re seen at night they’re usually just passing through,” he said.
To learn more about living with wildlife, go to the ODFW website here.
Wildlife sighting:
Layne and I saw a lynx early last evening walking through our front yard. I looked up lynx to make sure that was what we saw. That’s what it was! Just one. I was washing dishes in the kitchen, looked outside, and there it was. Beautiful animal. Top of Radar Road.