QUILCENE — A juvenile male cougar was shot to death Saturday by a state fish and wildlife agent after two goats were killed during an early morning attack believed to have been made by the same cougar.
Agent Paul Mosman killed the cougar that he estimated to weigh between 75 pounds and 90 pounds after chasing it through brush and brambles behind a residence at 195 Rogers Road.
Hounds owned and handled by Ron Culver of Shelton were used to locate the cat within a few hundred feet of where the dead goats were found.
Richard Garner, a Florida man who is staying at the Rogers Road address, said he twice heard what he believed to be a cougar’s scream while walking and praying in the early morning hours.
“Panthers make the same kind of scream,” Garner said of the resemblance between the cats from opposite sides of the country.
Dead goats discovered
When Garner went to check animals, the two goats belonging to Bob Henderson of Quilcene, had been killed.
After confirming that one or more cougars were responsible for the goats’ deaths, Mosman made arrangements to bring in the tracking hounds.
Mosman’s boss, Sgt. Phil Henry, explained that once a cougar kills livestock or domesticated animals, his agency’s policy calls for the cat to be killed if it can be found.