AP Photo/National Park Service

Sightings this month

Several cougar sightings in the Portland area and elsewhere in the state have been reported this month.

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Cougar runs in front of deputy's car

Recent sightings include this one in Clackamas County — where a cougar ran in front of a deputy's car — and in Tigard, where multiple sightings have been reported.

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Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife

Oregon's cougar population on the rise

The statewide population of cougars is growing, according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. Agency officials said that anecdotally the number of cougar sightings in the metro area and north Oregon coast is rising — especially the number of confirmed sightings.

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Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife

Cougar complaints

Sightings are still rare, though, according to ODFW.

"While actual cougar sightings have increased, coyotes, bobcats and dogs are often mistaken for cougars," the ODFW says on a webpage about cougars.

Note: Complaints and sightings are not one and the same.

"Complaints are essentially concerned reports from the public regarding some sort of cougar interaction," Derek Broman, the agency’s carnivore coordinator, said in an email. "Reports with no discernable concern are recorded as a sighting."

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Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife

Territorial cats

Oregon’s cougar populations are most dense in the southwest Cascades and Blue Mountains, according to the ODFW.

Broman said that because cougars are territorial, when youths get to be a certain age, they have to find a different place to settle. They move as little distance as they can until they find a place that suits their needs, and over time more areas become home to cougars. A youth may be booted from the best habitat — the Cascades, for example — and end up elsewhere, such as the fringe between a rural and urban area.

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Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife

Cougars and development

We're no strangers to development here in Oregon, so it's natural to wonder how that affects wildlife.

“While individual cougars can be impacted, nothing indicates cougar populations are being threatened by the growing human populations and development,” Broman said. “Growing populations are pushing these highly territorial animals into the urban fringe. Studies in Washington, California, and Colorado have documented that cougars can be quite successful at utilizing urban (which is a broad term) habitats. However, those behaviors do lead to an increased chance of human interactions that may include conflict and damage.”

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U.S. Department of Agriculture

Cougar safety

There's never been a fatal cougar attack in the wild in Oregon, Broman said. He doesn't think there's ever been a verified attack in the wild in Oregon, either. His agency has tips about what to do in the unlikely event you come across a cougar.

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National Park Service via AP

'Cougar populations are healthy'

An ODFW official quoted in a summer 2014 Oregonian/OregonLive report about cougar sightings said "the area surrounding the Portland-metro area and the suburbs is good cougar habitat."

"Cougar populations are healthy, and the lifestyle choices that make quality of life in the Portland area good also create avenues for animals to come into the cities," said Don Whittaker, in reference to forests and trails that lead into urban areas.