Cougar Attacks, Eats Dog On Puget Sound Beach

HOODSPORT, WA - State wildlife officers tracked and killed a cougar that preyed on a dog walking with its owner along a Puget Sound beach over the weekend.

The attack happened on Sunday when the owner was walking the dog along a beach near Hoodsport in Mason County, just a few miles east of the Olympic National Forest. The cougar ate the dog after killing it, the Mason County Sheriff's Office reported.

Although cougar attacks on people in Washington are rare, the big cats are known to prey on pets and livestock.

In July 2017, a dog walking with its owner along a hiking trail near Cle Elum Lake got into a fight with a cougar and was killed, prompting the Kittitas County Sheriff's Office to issue a warning to hikers. Last September, a cougar killed four goats on a farm near Gold Hill, Ore.

In 2019, a bill was introduced in the state Senate to allow hound handlers to train dogs to track cougars. The training would allow the state to have a group of dogs on hand in case of deadly interactions.

Last spring, Seattle bicyclist S.J. Brooks, 32, was attacked and killed by a cougar in the woods near North Bend. Cougars have only killed 25 people in the entire U.S., according to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, since officials began tracking attacks about 100 years ago. Brooks' death was only the second fatal attack recorded in Washington.