<I>Contributed photo</I><BR>Ray Davis holds the cougar that he shot on his property.

MONUMENT – Ray Davis is a little more careful around his property lately.

Davis shot a cougar that attacked his domestic cat less than 100 feet from his house May 8.

Davis awoke about 4 a.m. because his dogs were barking, and he went to let the dogs out of the house. The dogs immediately ran out and began circling something that was attacking his cat.

The attacker didn’t move from the cat. As Davis’ flashlight battery dimmed, the animal moved and he could see that it was a cougar. He went back into the house and grabbed his shotgun and another flashlight.

When he returned, the cougar was gone. Davis searched the property and found the animal in front of his shed. He shot the cougar twice, and called the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) later in the morning.

Davis’ brother, who was helping him work on his bathroom, said he had seen the cougar about midnight, but didn’t think to wake anyone up.

“When I first saw the cougar, it looked like it was a yellow lab in the dark,” Davis said. “I was thinking ‘Someone’s dog is killing my cat.’ Then it started to move and I saw the tail and figured out what it was.

“I don’t look at my yard the same anymore, especially at night.”

The cougar was a young female that weighed nearly 60 pounds. ODFW district wildlife biologist Ryan Torland said the cougar was probably about 1-1/2 years old.

He also said the cougar probably didn’t leave when the dogs circled because it was struggling at hunting and was protecting its kill.

“It was apparently fairly desperate,” Torland said. “It killed a cat in a yard and the dogs didn’t run it off. That’s very unusual behavior. They’re usually skittish. This cougar was skinny and probably extremely hungry.

“Typically problem cats are younger. They’re not as good hunters, and they don’t have an established territory of their own.”