'For every cougar you see, a thousand have already seen you'
EUGENE, Ore - A cougar has been spotted three times in a Corvallis neighborhood since Friday.
The animal is suspected of mauling a cat. While ODFW officials work to trap and kill the animal, one man wants to stop that.
"There has never been a documented cougar attack in Oregon ever," says Brooks Fahy, the executive director of Predator Defense. The organization's mission is to protect wildlife.
Fahy argues killing this cougar is wrong.
"The younger animals sometimes let themselves be seen," he says. "And unfortunately in this day and age that's almost a death sentence for them."
Fahy says there's an old saying: "For every cougar you see, a thousand have already seen you."
He says just spotting one isn't necessarily a reason to be alarmed.
"It hasn't snarled," he says. "It hasn't shown any type of crouching or stalking behavior. And cougars don't advertise themselves if they're going to attack something."
But ODFW spokeswoman Michelle Dennehy disagrees. "Let's remember it attacked a pet and it got seen 3 times."
She says the animal crossed the line when it crossed into human territory. "Most cougars are going to avoid humans," she says. "They're not going to come into the city limits. They're not going to come into an area of human activity especially during daylight hours."
Fahy agrees folks should be cautious whenever a wild animal is seen. But he says going for the kill is going too far.
Residents "shouldn't be scared. They should be cautious," he says. "But what's happened in this case is it's bordering panic."
