The media’s been full of breathless reports about cougars lately. Cougar shot and killed in Springfield; woman telepathically communicates with a cougar in her living room; and the latest is that cougar tracks were reported to Eugene Police Department as being found near Laurelwood Golf Course here in Eugene.

EW checked in with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and spokesperson Michelle Dennehy tells us: “The tracks at the golf course were NOT cougar. After biologist saw photo, believed to be dog and a manmade track.”

Cougars are common in Oregon. Cougar attacks and actual cougar sightings however are not. In fact there has never been a fatal cougar attack in this state, though there was one in Washington recently.

Check out ODFW’s handy sheet on how to live with Oregon’s 6,000 or so cougars and how to tell cougar from dog tracks here. 

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