Wildlife officials believe the cougar they killed Friday is responsible for the death of an Oregon hiker because it walked through the scene of the attack.

If testing finds the cougar killed avid hiker Diana Bober, it will mark the end of an emotional and grueling hunt that has been highly unusual for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.



Cougars rarely kill, so the discovery that a missing hiker might have been felled by one set off an aggressive search to find the animal before it could kill again.



Brian Wolfer, who is leading the hunt and who is highly knowledgeable about cougars, said Saturday that the weeklong hunt has been emotional. His top priority, he said, is to ensure no other family experiences the loss Bober's family is going through. He said he'd spoken with her family, they had discussed what Bober's wishes may have been, and that he was grateful for their support.

An initial search of the area where Bober's remains were found turned up no cougars, so the search team began to move away from where Bober's remains were found.

Wolfer said his team had already scaled 3,000 feet of rugged terrain when cameras they had set up at the attack scene caught a cougar on film. Three hours behind the animal, the crew worked to catch up.

"It was a Herculean effort on their part," he said.

Using dogs and mules, the team tracked the animal, which climbed up a tree. After killing the cougar, the crew worked to preserve evidence to help ensure they had the correct animal. The cougar was female and was not lactating, so they know kittens were not involved, he said.



The cougar's carcass was flown to Ashland for testing.



Although wildlife officials believe this cougar could be involved in the attack, they won't stop monitoring the area until they are certain, he said. If this turns out to be the wrong cougar, wildlife officials don't want to be further behind in the hunt for the offending animal, he said.



"This is not normal," he said. "We do not know how big the risk is, but it is an unacceptable risk."





-- Bethany Barnes

bbarnes@oregonian.com