Cougar sightings are up in Bellingham this year — are there more big cats in the area?
Seeing a cougar in the wild is something most people will never forget — seeing one close to their home can be downright terrifying.
“People, when they see a big carnivore, such as a cougar, or a big omnivore, such as a bear, it sparks some sort of primitive fear we have inside,” Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife District Wildlife Biologist Robert Waddell told The Bellingham Herald. “That inner fear of big or predatory animals is natural, and it’s why we get calls from people wanting to have something done about them.”
That fear has sparked a “a few more calls than normal” of reported wildlife sightings in the Bellingham area this year, particularly on the south side of town, Fish and Wildlife Officer Ryan Valentine told The Herald.
You don’t have to work for Fish and Wildlife to know that more people are seeing more wildlife this year. All you have to do is log into social media, where posts, photos and videos reporting frequent cougar or big cat sightings on Nextdoor, Facebook and even Twitter routinely go viral.
But are there actually more cougars, bobcats, mountain lions, bears and coyotes around this year than before?
Waddell and Valentine both said no — they’re just being noticed more often.
“We live in a unique area with abundant wildlife living in and around Bellingham,” Waddell said. “We have bears, cougars, bobcats and coyotes and many other animals. They’ve always been there. They’re not more of them, we’re just seeing more of them.”
So if there are not necessarily more cougars and other wildlife in the area, why then are they being seen and reported at a higher rate this year? Are they more comfortable around humans as we encroach further into there territory?
Nope — that’s not it either, Waddell and Valentine said, instead citing three other reasons:
▪ COVID-19: That’s right, the virus that has impacted just about every aspect of 2020 also is creating more wildlife sightings this year. Sure there have been reports of certain animals contracting the disease, but coronavirus has us staying home a lot more, creating more sightings.
“People are a lot more aware of wildlife around their house, because they’re forced to be around their house a whole lot more during the pandemic this year,” Valentine said. “They’re just more aware of the wildlife that was always around their home.”
▪ Security cameras: More and more residents are installing security cameras and doorbell cameras, such as RING, as they become more affordable. Not only do they capture video and pictures of loved ones returning home or criminals up to no good, they also film wildlife, such as cougars roaming through yards at night.
“You’re seeing more and more of these videos, and people think it’s because wildlife in the area is more prevalent,” Valentine said. “In reality, it’s the cameras that are a whole lot more prevalent. The animals have always been there, we just weren’t awake and didn’t have the cameras to see them before.”
▪ Social media: Neighborhood apps and websites, such as Nextdoor, and local social media groups, such as Britslist: Whatcom County or The Seeing Bellingham Group keep residents in touch with their neighbors more than ever and make them more aware of what is going on around them.
“More information is being shared among neighbors — for better or for worse,” Valentine said. “We’re aware of a bit of phenomenon where it makes it seem like there is actually more wildlife. There aren’t actually more wildlife, people are just aware of more reports because they hear about them and share them. People are posting about animals they see with good intentions to make their neighbors aware.”
But increased reports of sightings for these and other reasons can also create fear or demands for Fish and Wildlife and police to “do something about” the wildlife that is seen.
“Sometimes the best thing to do is nothing at all,” Valentine said. “And that’s really hard for people to wrap their minds around.”
Instead, Valentine and Waddell recommend residents arm themselves with more information about the wildlife that shares the area where we live.
A great resource to begin learning about wildlife is the Fish and Wildlife website, where they said there is plenty of information under the “Species and Habitats” tab. Visitors also can find information about what to do if they do encounter a cougar or a bear or something else either in the wild or near their home.
“The more people understand about the wildlife living around them, the more they’ll understand what the animals are doing and why they’re doing it,” Waddell said.
For example, Valentine said he gets countless reports of cougars stalking people in the area.
“When I return the call and I get more information and details and they use ‘stalk’ as a description, but they’re usually not being stalked at all,” Valentin said. “They say that because of a fear or misunderstanding of cougars. It’s not a cougar stalking in a predatory sense, but just a cougar doing what cougars do.”
Cougars, by their nature, are very much like a house cat, in that they are curious, Valentine said. If they encounter a walker or a runner when they are active they may follow it to determine what it is and if it’s prey or not. When they learn its a human, they generally become disinterested and leave.
“Thank goodness cougars are generally shy, secretive animals,” Valentine said. “They don’t like being seen.”
Partially because of that, Waddell said over the past 100 years, there have only been approximately two dozen fatal cougar attacks recorded nationwide, though he cautioned there have been more attacks.
“It’s so rare, it’s truly amazing,” Valentine added. “We get calls from people who are genuinely concerned. Most people enjoy the comfort of absolutes — they want 100% absolutes that this person won’t be harmed or hurt. We can’t do that, but we can say with high probability that they don’t want to be around people.”
Reporting wildlife
While not all sightings of large animals, such as cougars, bobcats, mountain lions, bears and coyotes, especially those in the wild where you’d expect to see them, need to be reported, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife does want to hear about animals that are in unexpected areas or animals that are acting unusually. The best place to make reports is through the WILDCOMM communications center in Olympia:
Phone: 360-902,2936, Option 1
Email: WILDCOMM@dfw.wa.gov
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This story was originally published September 28, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
