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Cougars are common in Western Washington, but attacks extremely rare

The cougar, who was about 30 pounds underweight, is undergoing a necropsy at Washington State University.
Wash. Department of Fish and Wildlife agents sit next to a cougar they shot and killed. They believe it is the same cougar who attacked two cyclists on a trail near North Bend, killing one of them. (KING)

Cougar attacks are extremely rare. Saturday's deadly mauling is only the second in Washington state in the past 100 years.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife estimates there are about 2,000 adult cougars in Washington state. Some are much closer to the human population than residents realize.

State tracking studies have even found that they will follow greenbelts and other natural corridors into the suburbs of Seattle and Tacoma without being noticed. Known as cougars, mountain lions or pumas, the cats are widespread all around North America, yet the chances of running into one are low.

Dr. Howard Quigley is the Puma Program Director for Panthera, a global wild cat conservation organization. He says, "They're right in our backyard and we never know they're there."

Quigley said, "If it were African lions, if it were Tigers, even grizzly bears; those three species are known to attack people and even kill them for food. But when it comes to mountain lions, it's just so rare from a scientific standpoint. What was that rare point that made this happen?"

Washington state has 20 recorded cases of cougars and humans coming into contact, including Saturday's fatal attack near North Bend. That figure isn't just for the past year or decade — it's since the last cougar fatality in Washington state back in 1924.

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife spokesperson Darren Friedel says of those 20 incidents, eight resulted in serious injuries. The other 12 are described as people who had a surprise encounter with a cougar resulting in minor scratches, likely not coming from the cougar, but from falling down or moving through brush.

The cat, tracked down and killed by wildlife agents, was transported to Pullman for a necropsy at the Washington Disease Diagnostic Lab, part of Washington State University's veterinary school. The findings should be released in the coming days or weeks.

KING 5 has learned that the young male cougar was considered about 30 pounds underweight. The necropsy should determine if the animal suffered from brain disease or another ailment which could account for its actions.

If confronted by a cougar, the advice is to make yourself look threatening to the animal. Make eye contact and make yourself look as big as possible. Fend the cat off with any tool you can find. Keep the mountain lion in front of you, don't let it get behind you as that's how they kill by going after the back of the skull where it meets the spine. And if it attacks, fight. Perhaps the single best advice is NEVER run, that makes you look like prey, such as a deer, and that may account for what happened near North Bend.

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