Corvallis’ Dunn Forest will remain closed as a team with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife search for a cougar that pursued a jogger over the weekend.
Peter Idema, 68, was on a Saturday morning run near his Corvallis home when he spotted a small cougar approaching.
“I’m screaming, and trying to make myself large – all the things you’re supposed to do when you have a mountain lion coming,” Idema said. “And it just kept coming. It got right up to me, ears back.”
Idema says he delivered a forceful kick to the cougar’s face, briefly sending the animal scampering into the bushes before it, once again, began to chase him down a hill.
“It wasn’t behaving like it should have behaved. It had plenty of chance to leave,” Idema said. “And it just kept coming and coming.”
The mountain lion ran off for good moments later, when it spotted a couple and their dog making their way up the trail, according to Idema.
Michelle Dennehy, a spokesperson for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, said the weekend’s warm, dry temperatures have masked the cougar’s scent, making it difficult to track. The search team struck out on their second attempt Sunday morning.
Oregon has more than 6,000 cougars, who feel at home in wooded, deer-filled areas like the Dunn Forest. Still, Dennehy said she considers incidents like these “a rare event.”
“Usually, you’re not going to see a cougar,” she said. “It’s certainly not going to get as close to you as it did to this jogger.”
Due the cougar’s “very aggressive” nature, Dennehy says the department will need to euthanize the animal if they can track it down. If the cat remains elusive after a few days, she says it’s likely safe to assume the cougar wandered away from the area.
A spokesperson for Oregon State University, which manages the Dunn Forest, says the school anticipates re-opening the forest to the public next week assuming there are no new incidents.
