Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist Darren Bruning displays a young, female cougar that was discovered in a residential yard in Canyon City last Thursday night. Officials humanely killed the animal for safety reasons. Bruning said the cat's territory probably overlapped with the city limits, and the inexperienced hunter ended up "in the wrong place at the wrong time."

CANYON CITY – A young, female cougar strayed into the back yard of a Canyon City residence, a fatal mistake for the unwelcome intruder.

A local wildlife biologist and a John Day police officer agreed it would be best to kill the cat as a safety precaution.

The incident, which occurred around 11:33 p.m. May 15, was a rude awakening for Humbolt Avenue residents Mike and Amy Walker. Amy recalled the strange events that led up to the discovery of a cougar in their back yard.

“We have a housecat, and she was just going nuts,” Amy recalled. “She woke me up. She just flew off the windowsill at breakneck speed. I got up and looked out the window, and I saw what I thought was just a housecat that went behind a tree.”

Amy tried to go back to sleep, but she said, “In the back of my mind, I kept thinking: ‘That was an awfully big cat.'”

She climbed out of bed to take another look out the window. As the mountain lion strolled along the perimeter deer fence, the realization dawned on Amy.

“It walked by again, and I could see it wasn’t a housecat,” she said.

A call to 911 brought an officer from the John Day Police Department. Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist Darren Bruning arrived a few moments later, and together they decided that the cougar should be killed.

Bruning’s reasons to “lethally remove” the animal included:

Public perception and public concern about a cougar wandering within five blocks of Humbolt Elementary School.

The known concern of some members of the public and local officials about public safety where cougars are concerned.

The possibility that the cougar, being “young, small and inexperienced,” would use Canyon City and John Day city limits as part of its terrain and prey on domestic pets.

Fears that citizens might resort to using firearms illegally within city limits as a reaction to an at-large stray mountain lion.

Concern that citizens might harbor an exaggerated condemnation of cougars in reaction to a single stray that was not controlled. Bruning wanted to “be responsible to all publics that have multiple and diverse values for cougars.”

Public feelings about alleged cougar sightings have run high in Grant County. Sheriff Glenn Palmer sought authority to conduct controlled cougar hunts with hounds, based on heightened public concern about cougars entering populated areas. Tensions increased when, on Nov. 14, 2001, Oregon State Police investigated but could not verify a report that a citizen saw a cougar on the ridge behind Humbolt Elementary – the same ridge which slopes down to abut the Walkers’ back yard farther to the south.

However, Bruning said mountain lions tend to roam their territories, based on typical hunting patterns, and it’s unlikely one of the elusive predators would risk lingering around a populated area. The mountain lion discovered in a residential area last week represented a novice, he said.

“It was young, inexperienced and ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Bruning said.

“It’s very unlikely it’s the same cat,” he added, referring to the reported 2001 sighting behind the school.

The 35- to 40-pound mountain lion killed in Canyon City last week probably was only a year old, too young to be the same cougar that was reported behind the school more than a year and a half earlier, he said.

Verifiable sightings are hard to come by, so it’s difficult to assess the frequency with which cougars stray into populated areas of Grant County. So far this year, ODFW has completed reports on three reported cougar sightings in the John Day-Canyon City area. The first was Jan. 4, along Marysville Road near Canyon City’s St. Andrew’s Catholic Cemetery; the second was April 26, on Patterson Drive in Canyon City; and the third was May 16, documenting what officials suspect was an after-the-fact report of the same cougar that ended up in the Walkers’ yard. However, in the first two cases, nothing as tangible as pawprints could provide hard evidence of a cougar intrusion, Bruning said.

In the case of the Walkers’ back-yard intruder, Amy said she found evidence of how the cat gained entry. Scratches on a gate which stands about five feet high suggested the animal might have scrambled into their enclosed back yard from the driveway. Otherwise, a plastic mesh deer fence surrounds the yard, reaching 6-8 feet high. However, Bruning said it’s possible the cat crawled under the fence. ODFW biologists will collect biological data from the carcass to learn more about the animal.