[pwd72s]

Looks like we have more than one type of predator in these parts. I suspect the 2 legged ones are the most dangerous, but here's the story from tonight's paper. RoninLB, I clipped it, it's on it's way to you via snail mail.

Cougar spotted near S.H.

By Ian Rollins
Albany Democrat-Herald


David Patton/Democrat-Herald
Cody McClaughry, 10, was waiting with his brother for the school bus on Upper Berlin Road last week when they saw a cougar.


Boys see large cat while waiting for school bus on Upper Berlin Road

Cody McClaughry, 10, and his 8-year-old brother Kyle don’t wait by themselves for the school bus anymore on Upper Berlin Road. The boys saw a cougar last week watching them in a crouched position, so now their grandfather waits with them until the bus picks them up.

“It was as long as he was,” Cody said, referring to his grandfather, John Fitzwater, who is 6 feet tall. “It had a big hump in its back.”

“I think he was getting ready for a meal,” Fitzwater said. He added there have been “quite a few” cougar sightings up and down the road in the last week.

The boys and their two sisters live with their mom, Carrie Fitzwater, and her parents in the hills off Upper Berlin Road northwest of Sweet Home.

They saw the cougar Thursday morning, within feet of their driveway. Cody said he ran back down the hill to their house while his brother stayed behind. He said the cougar took off when the school bus came.

“Now Grandpa drives us here and we wait for the bus,” Cody said. “He doesn’t leave until we get on.”

The boys attend Hamilton Creek School in the Lebanon School District. Pat Green, district transportation director, said the district recommends parents have their kids wait in a vehicle at the top of the driveway when dangerous wildlife is in the area.

“We’ll make a notation on the route that the child will be waiting in a personal vehicle, not standing outside,” Green said.

Fitzwater said he called the Oregon State Police after the cougar sighting. “They said, ‘you do what you have to do to protect your family,’” he said. “I was hoping they’d come up and bait it or trap it.”

Fitzwater himself has only seen a cougar once in the 27 years he’s lived on Upper Berlin. His own sighting was years ago, when his kids were young. But he said several people, including his cousin farther down the road, have seen the cougar in the last week.

“My cousin lives around the corner. He said it was trying to get into his dog kennel,” he said. “His wife yelled at it, but it wasn’t afraid.”

He’d like the state police fish and wildlife division to bring some dogs to hunt down the cougar, but voters passed a ballot measure in 1994 that made cougar hunting with dogs illegal.

ABOUT COUGARS

Oregon is home to an estimated 5,000 cougars. The majority live in the Blue Mountains and the southwest Cascade Range.

Although deer are their main source of food, they also eat elk, raccoons, bighorn sheep and other mammals.

Cougars are territorial, with a homing range of about 100 miles. They are most active at dawn and dusk and hunt alone.

If you encounter a cougar:

* Leave it a way to escape. Cougars will often retreat if given the opportunity.

* Stay calm and stand your ground.

* Maintain direct eye contact.

* Pick up your children, but do so without bending down or turning your back on the cougar.

* Back away slowly.

* Do not run. Running triggers a chase response in cougars that could lead to an attack.

* Raise your voice and speak firmly.

* If the cougar seems aggressive, raise your arms to make yourself appear larger and clap your hands.

* If a cougar attacks you, fight back with rocks, sticks, tools or other items.

— Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife