Animals around the Basin: Cougars

Are there really cougars in the Columbia Basin? Yes, there are cougars in the Basin. The cougar is also known as a mountain lion, panther, ghost cat, shadow cat, painter, American lion and catamount. The territory of this cat ranges from the Yukon Territory of Canada, south to the Patagonia region of South America, including the Basin.

Here are a few events involving cougars in the Basin within the past 10 years.

Within Ephrata city limits

Drive to Ephrata and take a left on Basin Street, also known as Highway 28, after going over the hump. Travel about half a mile, until the motel is on the left.

Now look directly to the right and several Russian Olive trees should come into view. A cougar was spotted in one of these trees.

Fish and Wildlife officials responded to the area to evaluate the situation. Just beyond the trees is a large irrigation canal. The ideal situation would be to have the animal head over the canal and back into the wild.

However, there were houses a couple hundred yards to the north of the cougar. It was impossible to tell which way the animal would go if allowed to get to the ground and run.

Fish and Wildlife had no choice, but to put the cougar down in the name of public safety. After the incident was complete, one of the officers involved told me a fort, build by area youngsters, was located at the base of the tree containing the cougar.

They also found bicycle tracks in the trail to the nearest housing area and cougar tracks on top of the bicycle tracks. Scary, yes.

Near Lake Lenore

Two Moses Lake hunters were after chukars on the westside of Lake Lenore. They would hike around the south end of the lake and begin to hunt on the far side.

“We would hunt a flat, from one end to the other, and then climb down and travel over to and up to the next flat,” one of the hunters told me.

At the end of the first flat, they heard a noise in the tall grass below. They couldn’t see an animal, but they knew one was below them. One thought it was a coyote, so they went to investigate.

This hunter was using the barrel of his shotgun to move the grass as he advanced. Finally, when he moved the grass, there was a cougar staring back at him. He fired and wounded the cat, finishing it off with a second shot.

Tomorrow: Columbia Basin cougars continued.