Curious, confused cougar caught in Ephrata

EPHRATA — An Ephrata man found himself hosting an uninvited guest Tuesday morning when a cougar, spotted earlier wandering the city, jumped through his screen door and into his house.

According to Ephrata Police Capt. Erik Koch, the Ephrata Police Department received a call at around 9:45 a.m. someone spotted the cougar prowling the yard of a house in the 200 block of D Street Southwest.

Koch said police and deputies from the Grant County Sheriff’s Office responded and spotted the large cat walking down an alley before losing track of the animal.

Soon after, Koch said the resident of 20 F St. SW called the Ephrata police, saying the cat was in his home.

“He said he was out having his morning cigarette when the cougar ran right past him, and then it turned and jumped through his front screen door,” Koch said.

Ephrata police quickly responded and contacted officers with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, who instructed them to keep the animal contained in the house.

“We made sure it was not getting out,” Koch said.

Koch said it took two tranquilizer darts fired by a Fish and Wildlife team from Wenatchee to fully sedate the cat, which then collapsed in the home’s kitchen sink around 11:30 a.m.

The resident, who would not speak on the record, was clearly still visibly shaken from the encounter.

Ephrata School Superintendent Tim Payne said Grant Elementary School, located three blocks to the north of where the cougar was spotted, was effectively locked down Tuesday morning because of the cougar sighting.

“Nobody’s walking; nobody’s at the bus stop, we made sure all the kids are safe until we hear that it’s all clear,” Payne said.

According to Becky Bennet, a spokesperson for the Fish and Wildlife’s police, the sedated cat was loaded into a trailer and transported to Douglas County, where it was tagged and released Tuesday afternoon into more suitable surroundings.

“We hope it sticks to its habitat and doesn’t find itself in someone’s house again,” she said.

Bennett said cougar sightings, even in small cities like Ephrata, are fairly rare and when the animals find their way into urban areas, they are often lost, confused and unable to find their way out.

“It’s not something we normally see,” she said.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com