Cougars Attack, Possibly Kill House Cat in East Wenatchee

A domesticated cat was reportedly mauled by a pair of cougars in East Wenatchee on Thursday night.

It seems unlikely that the helpless feline survived.

"I'm fairly confident that the cat did die," says Department of Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman Becky Elder. "But I haven't been given that information specifically."

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Shortly after 9 p.m., police in East Wenatchee were called to the frenzied attack near Ninth St. One cougar was "lethally removed from the scene," according to Elder; the other is apparently still at large.

"In general, cougars tend to stay away from highly populated areas," Elder says. "They prefer to be in a secluded environment - more natural spaces."

"The Wenatchee area is a great location for cougars moving in and out of the greenbelt because there's a lot of natural food sources for them. So we will, on occasion, see cougars going through those areas."

This has its downsides, Elder says.

"Unfortunately, some cougars will prey upon domesticated animals. Backyard wildlife moves into these kind of semi-urban locations and then the cougars follow suit. Deer and small wildlife can potentially can bring in those larger predators such as cougars."

"In some unfortunate instances,  we will see cougars predating on livestock. We work to keep cougars away from those areas while also educating and informing landowners on ways to mitigate those negative interactions."

In this case, Elder says, there had been previous sightings of the cougars. They probably became "habituated" to relying on human food sources - including domesticated animals.

According to Elder, cougars are usually stealthy and solitary; they seldom cause a ruckus or draw human attention. Cougar-on-human violence is vanishingly rare.