You don’t think of it much, but the pacific Northwest is home to a number of cougars. In fact Vancouver Island has one of the highest densities of mountain lions that prey on the abumdant deer in the Temperate Rain Forest.
I came across a story about one cat who got a little too close to a popuulated area in Seattle.

SEATTLE – A cougar that prowled through Seattle for about a week and forced the closure of Discovery Park was captured early Sunday.

An enforcement officer tracked the animal after authorities were told the cougar had been spotted Saturday evening.

Tracking dogs chased the cougar up a tree and he was tranquilized.

The 2 1/2-year-old male weighed 140 pounds and is in very good health, Capt. Bill Hebner said.

read the rest of the story at the KREM Channel 2 news website.

Last winter Biologists confirmed a grey wolf in Eastern Oregon near Joseph.  The source: Idaho’s reintroduced wolves.  So it only seemed natural that Washington state would be next.  The Cascade mountains are a remote location where a pack could establish without much human contact. 

As the grey wolf is removed from the federal endangered species list, it will certainly be interesting to see how the state management in Washington is similar or different in Washington State than Idaho or Wyoming.  With the majority of it’s population being urban and on the Western side if the Cascades there will more than likely be more preservation pressure in Washington state than in the more rural Idaho and Wyoming. 

I will keep an eye on new developments.  Until then, here is a news release from Washington Fish and wildlife:

7/14/08

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) biologists believe a gray wolf pack may exist in western Okanogan County, based on results of a howling survey there July 8.

During the recent survey-initiated in response to reports of wolf sightings, reports of howling and remote-camera photos of possible wolves-biologists heard multiple vocalizations indicating adult and juvenile wolves were in the area. The biologists visited several locations making wolf-like howls, and heard multiple adult and juvenile howls in response.
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