Andy Rogers/For The Olympian
Wildlife photographer Chuck Bartlett is shown with one of his cougar photos at his home in Lynnwood. Bartlett models the same rain poncho he wore and camera he used when he survived a near-attack by a cougar near the Graves Creek Campground in Olympic National Park.

Cougar encounter

Use common sense and a big stick -- or tripod -- when dealing with wild cats

STORIES BY N.S. NOKKENTVED, THE OLYMPIAN

Originally published August 21, 2001

QUINAULT -- The two dull thumps behind him seemed out of place; he turned just in time to see a young cougar in full charge -- maybe 20 feet away.

"He was airborne," said wildlife photographer Chuck Bartlett, 63, of Lynnwood.

Bartlett was doing some close-up photography on a rainy afternoon -- things like grass tops with raindrops -- on a gravel bar in the Quinault River of Olympic National Park. He had attached an umbrella to his tripod to keep his camera dry.

It was late on a Friday afternoon in mid-July 1999, and the light was getting low. He was just thinking it was time to head home, when the cougar charged.

"It's burned in my memory," Bartlett said in a recent interview with The Olympian.

Bartlett whipped to his left, putting the camera tripod and umbrella between him and the cougar, all the time screaming, "Get out of here cougar."

Perhaps it was the umbrella, perhaps it was his aggressive response, but the cougar changed its mind.

It tried to stop but skidded on the top of the driftwood log beside Bartlett and landed on the ground about 10 feet away. The cat, with its ears pinned back, squinted at Bartlett as he fumbled under his poncho for his pepper spray.

Seven or eight seconds elapsed -- it seemed longer.

The cat jumped back over the log, stopped and looked back at him and then walked up the riverbank, where it stopped again and looked back at Bartlett for a long time -- maybe 30 seconds, he said.

Increase in encounters

Though cougar encounters are increasing, encounters like Bartlett's still are rare.

A healthy cougar population -- arguably about 2,500 animals statewide -- and growing outdoor recreation have increased the potential for increased interaction, said Steve Pozzanghera, deputy assistant director for the wildlife program at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

But there is little correlation between contact and attacks, he said. Attacks are random events.

In North America, fewer than 20 people have died and about 75 people have been injured in cougar attacks in the past 100 years. But more cougar attacks have been reported in the western United States and Canada over the past 20 years than in the previous 80.

In Washington, more encounters have been reported in the 1990s than in previous decades, but the last fatal cougar attack in the state was in 1924. Of six attacks, including that fatality, since 1924, four occurred during the 1990s.

Cougar encounters are increasing on the urban fringe, in heavily used recreation areas and popular campgrounds. But deeper in the remote reaches surrounding South Sound, hikers, campers and backpackers are more likely to encounter bears, Pozzanghera said. He recommends people learn how to behave in cougar country before venturing out, and when hiking they might want to think about carrying a walking stick.

"If needed, they can whack the cat on the head," Pozzanghera said.

Protect yourself and others

For families with children it's important to keep children close -- not just because of cougars. This summer has been unusually dry, and yellow jackets are particularly ornery, Pozzanghera said.

"You don't want the kids bumbling ahead," he said.

Information on cougars and precautions is available from Fish and Wildlife and at the department's Internet Web site at www.wa.gov/WDFW.

In Bartlett's case, before he could collect his senses and get a picture of the cougar, it turned away. But he was close to the Graves Creek Campground, which on a Friday evening in July was filling up fast. Bartlett decided to tell park rangers about the incident.

When the rangers went back over the cat's tracks, they could see the cat had been stalking Bartlett for a long time before that jump. He had been moving slowly and bending over, mimicking the feeding action of potential cougar prey.

The young cougar probably had been kicked out by its mother recently and probably was still trying to figure out what was food and what was not, park Ranger Kraig Snure said.

The incident taught Bartlett that in cougar country people should be aware of what they might look like to a cougar. Though he thought he had handled the encounter well, he continued to have occasional flashbacks for about a year after the incident.

The encounter had affected him more deeply than he thought, he said.

N.S. Nokkentved covers the outdoors for The Olympian. He can be reached at 754-5445.

Cougars tracks

- The cat: Felis concolor is known variously as cougar, puma, panther, catamount and mountain lion. It is the most widely distributed cat in North and South America. The tawny cat, with lighter chest and belly, has a small head, and its small, rounded ears are tipped in black as is the long tail.

- Adult males: Average 160 to 180 pounds -- some up to 200 pounds; up to 8 feet long from nose to the tip of the tail -- the tail makes up about one-third of a cat's length.

- Adult females: Average about 100 pounds and are up to 7 feet long.

- Diet: Primarily deer, but they also kill and eat prey ranging from rabbits to elk.

- Habitat: Formerly all 48 states, from tropics to subarctic, forest and desert, from sea level to 10,000 feet. Basically, anywhere they can find adequate prey and suitable cover. That cover is a combination of terrain and vegetation that allows the cougar to stay out of sight while stalking prey.

- Reproduction: Females begin breeding at about 2 1/2 years old and give birth to two or three kittens, each weighing about a pound and measuring a foot long. Young stay with mother 18 to 24 months.

- Notable: The cougar is known for its agility and ability to jump. It can leap 30 feet from a standstill or jump 20 feet straight up a cliff.

The Olympian Copyright 2001

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