The climate is perfect for a Cougar, what’s not to like.
Also called panthers, as was the local high school football team. 30 years ago I lived in Washington State on acreage that backed up to 1000 acres of undeveloped state forest land. My woods were criss-crossed with deer paths, and I would go out there in my spare time and mark the edges of the paths with fallen branches. I walked the paths and explored the woods daily with my dogs and my cats. I was hoping to find a spring that I could develop into a pond for ducks (foolish goal).
On day, I was out walking with my animals when I spotted some unusual foliage in a marshy area. To get there, I had to walk across a fallen tree, hop down, and examine the area. My dogs refused to follow me. They sat right down and howled. My cats scaled a tree and yowled. I forged ahead.
In the mud, I found huge paw prints — much larger than my 85 lb. Golden Retriever would have made. I took my husband down there to examine the prints when he got home, and he pooh-poohed me, saying that it was probably just from a stray dog. (Although I had the biggest dog on the hillside.)
We sold the house to the DNR, who made it into a Ranger Station, and moved out of state. 5 years later, we went back on a visit and we were shocked to see that the DNR had made my pasture into a parking lot and had maps of my trails posted for visitors with a big warning: BEWARE of PANTHERS!
My blood ran cold when I remembered how flaky my animals got and how they effused to approach the area where I found the very large paw print!