Deputy Steve Hamilton poses with the young adult female after she is tranquilized. / Courtesy photo by Thurston County Sheriff’s Office
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
Wildlife officers captured a cougar yesterday that was discovered in a tree in the front yard of a Grand Mound area residence.
The big cat was about 12 feet up in a Douglas fir, just south of 183rd Avenue Southwest, a few miles east of Interstate 5.
Monique Hibberd, who works nights at a casino, said her husband woke her at about 11:30 a.m.
“My husband was so excited, he said, ‘there’s a lion in our tree’,” she said. “I go, ‘you mean, a cougar’? He’s like, ‘I don’t know. It’s huge.’ ”
So Hibberd went outside near her car, to take a look.
“I could see her face, she was pretty,” she said. “So we just backed out, and called 911.”
The couple stayed inside their house and watched while a team that included a Thurston County sheriff’s deputy and officers with the Department of Fish and Wildlife took care of it.
“They were so good, so gentle with her,” Hibberd said.
The cougar was shot with a tranquilizer dart and after waiting for it to take effect, an officer put a ladder against the trunk, to coax the cougar down, Hibberd said.
The Hibberds were told it was somewhat out of the ordinary for the animal to be found where it was, inside a fenced yard with no livestock.
“The deputy did say there’d been sightings on Danby,” he said.
They think their dogs treed the cougar, as they had been barking, she said.
The young adult female was put into a trailer and taken away to the forest, according to the Thurston County Sherif’s Office.
“The best part is knowing she had a good outcome,” Hibberd said. “The best part is knowing she is able to be released out onto the land.”
Wildlife officers load female cougar into trailer so she can be taken out into the forest. / Courtesy photo by Dave Hibberd
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
I agree Free Air.
When I was a boy there was a $75.oo bounty on cougar. I knew a couple of guys that collected bounty in Kelso and immediately went across the river and collected again in Rainier. One young man in Castle Rock trapped six in one year.
I remember when then Thurston County Sheriff Edwards told his Officers to shoot any cougar found in any of the counties residential areas. The Game Department had a fit and told Edwards he “just can’t do that” to which he replied something along the lines of “you take care of wildlife, and I’ll protect my citizens; end of discussion”.
Edwards, Sexton, Hooper, Hart. Sometimes I miss how the old guys set their priorities.
Back in my day it was well known that cougars were in that area. Most often at The Red Barn.
those cougars are always a problem-especially the female gender-ha-ha
I am happy to hear that they were able to capture and release it. In 2004 or 2005 when I was a student at Washington Elementary we had a bear that was sighted near the play ground. We went on lockdown for the day. I lived nearby and remember seeing Fish & Wildlife out trying to capture it. They were not successful. The bear got away.