MONROE, Wash. — A Monroe family had a close encounter with a cougar over the weekend when the wild cat ran through their backyard and came within feet of the family.
On Saturday, the Havener family were sitting on their back patio when a cougar ran through their yard and came face to face with them. The shocking moments were captured on their surveillance cameras.
"All of a sudden this whirlwind shows up in the middle of us," said Greg Havener.
Havener describes the moments that caught his family by surprise.
"My cat is walking along minding his own business The cougar comes running out covers the whole yard and here we all are hanging out and they show up right in the middle of all of us," Havener said.
Havener's two cats got away and his wife and daughter then run inside with their new puppy.
"That was probably the scariest moment in the video because you see it turn and it locks eyes with them and we don't know what it was thinking," Havener said.
Havener was on the other side of the family's car and couldn't see the animal right away and though it could be a bobcat. He began to confront and yell at it, and quickly realized it's a cougar.
"We couldn’t even process what happened until afterwards we went and looked at the video and the different angles and saw what everybody was doing and then I started worrying about the kids in the yard playing in the future and if it would show up again," Havener said.
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife said it's not uncommon for cougars to be in that area, but the scenario is unusual.
"Cougars are very visual hunters and when they identify potential prey, they get locked in. They sort of get tunnel vision and strongly suspect that cat didn't even see the house didn't see the people," said Dr. Brian Kertson, the state's carnivore research scientist for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Dr. Kertson said the cougar running away once it saw humans is typical behavior.
WDFW said cougars do go into people's backyards but normally at night. Dr. Kertson said there are ways to deter cougars from coming in your yard by not having food resources or landscaping that attracts deer or elk. Dr. Kertson said there are structure measures people can take as well.
"Cougars are a stalking predator so they have to approach their prey undetected. They really don't like being out in the open. If you sort of open up the brush and the understory and make the landscape a little more visible, that that can do it as well," Dr. Kertson said.
WDFW said the cougar population are at healthy levels and cougar attacks are rare and cites two deadly cougar attacks in Washington in the last 100 years.
WDFW said if you do encounter a cougar to not run away or turn your back to the cougar. The agency said to stand your ground and get big and yell. WDFW also suggest carrying bear spray if you plan to hike or be out in cougar country.