cougar-ppb.jpg

Portland police released this photo of a cougar in a tree on N.E. 121st Friday afternoon July 4, 2014.

(PPB)

Updated: An Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist made the decision Friday evening to euthanize a cougar captured in the backyard of an East Portland home.

The decision to euthanize was made for reasons of public safety, ODFW spokeswoman Meg Kenagy said.

"It had become habituated to the city," Kenagy said. "It had lost its fear of people."

Kenagy said a state veterinarian would do a necropsy -- an autopsy on an animal -- which might yield clues to illnesses, if any, the cougar had and what it had been eating.

She did not know the gender or possible age of the animal.

"When cougars are seen during the day they have lost their fear of people," Kenagy said.

Updated: At about 6 p.m. authorities successfully tranquilized the cougar and loaded the animal into an Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife vehicle for relocation.

ODFW officials responded Friday afternoon to a call to an East Portland neighborhood, answering a report of a cougar in a tree.

Police had received a phone call about a cougar in a tree at 2:45 p.m. Friday and later surrounded the cedar tree near the 2900 block of N.E. 121st Ave. They then enlisted Fish and Wildlife officials to help handle the situation, Portland Police Sgt. Pete Simpson said.

At about 4:30 p.m., authorities were working to safely remove the animal. One neighborhood resident gathered near the scene said fish and wildlife officials were preparing to tranquilize the cougar.

Simpson said it's possible – though he was not certain – that this cougar is the one that has been spotted in several locations Friday on Portland's east side. "I would think it's the same. I'm going to guess it's the same one," Simpson said.

-- Allan Brettman