'Good' cougar heard in the Sisters Country

Ken Ehlers of Sage Meadow and Betty Fadeley of Aspen Lakes live miles apart, but yet have something in common: They have had a non-personal contact with our elusive, feared, loved, hated, and oft-misunderstood cougar, Puma concolor - and it may have been the same animal.

The Ehlers contact was on Sunday evening, August 16, after which he wrote this e-mail to The Nugget: "We have had some cougar sightings here in Sage Meadow, and last week several of us heard a noise that was eerie, something wild sounding, as loud as a boulder being dragged out of the back of a pickup, about dusk."

It may be difficult describing the noise of a boulder being dragged from a pickup, but if it makes a loud screaming sound, that would about describe a cougar announcing its presence.

Ehlers went on to say: "My neighbors across the street, Phil and Lynne Keller, heard it and their dog barked and wouldn't stop until she quieted it down. She wanted to investigate but was afraid to until the next day, when Phil looked and saw a buzzard or vulture (?) type birds circling over the Forest Service land behind his house. He went out and found the remains of a large deer that (had) been taken, a buck, with not much left of it."

Wildlife biologists warn that going out to investigate what that frightful sound was could have ruined Lynne Keller's night and the next day, especially if she interrupted the cougar at the time it was feeding on the buck that presumably liked to hang around Sage Meadow. Being prudent around unknown wild sounds in the night might be wise.

Five days prior to Ken's contact, Betty Fadeley, of Aspen Lakes, enjoyed a similar experience, but without the sound effects. She e-mailed The Nugget: "Wednesday, August 12, at 4:45 a.m., our dog Lucky started barking - at first I thought he had a bad dream - I can usually settle him down quickly by petting and talking to him. But this time he was at the kitchen sliding glass door, his hair up on his back like I have never seen, and he is barking and whining wildly. It took me about 10 minutes to settle him down. Later that morning I found huge cougar track not 50 feet from our door. The dog next door to us also acted up at the same time."

Several years ago, a similar incident occurred not far from Sisters, and when the man of the house went into the kitchen to see why his dog was coming unglued, there was a full-grown adult cougar standing on the porch looking through the kitchen door window.

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) biologists warn that one of the main reasons that cougar are coming so close to human habitation is because that's where they can find easy-to-catch mule deer, habituated to humans and dogs, that have have lost their natural fear and alertness.

For information from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildife on cougar behavior, visit http://www.dfw.state.or.us/wildlife/living_with/living-with-cougars.asp.

Author Bio

Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.

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