Another cougar spotted in Kent, women claim

KENT, Wash. – Two women in Kent claim to see have seen a cougar off 104th Avenue SE on May 20. Michelle Rodgers and Roslyn Prasad say the animal stared them down and made its way toward them.

“Over there, I saw this large animal. It was bigger than like two Great Danes dart toward the pond,” Rodgers said.

“And I was upset with myself because I had just locked my doors. So, I couldn’t just go quickly back into my car,” Prasad said.

They say if a car hadn’t parked in the parking lot and scared the animal off, this would have been a different story.

“And thank God within seconds another car pulls up and it scared the cougar away. Otherwise, we would not have been here standing talking to you guys,” Prasad said.

But they worry about other people encountering the animal.

“This is a place where we have a lot of elderly people, children, newborns come here. And those are people who can’t run from a cougar,” Rodgers said.

This isn’t the first sighting of a cougar in recent weeks. KIRO 7 reported several weeks ago that another cougar was spotted in the Riverview area. The Department of Fish and Wildlife says cougar sightings in the area are rare, but can still happen.

“Rivers are known to be wildlife corridors. Animals will use it to travel along to get prey, get water, that kind of thing,” the department’s communications manager Staci Lehman said.

Lehman also says if a person ever does encounter this type of animal, follow these instructions.

“We tell people all the time if you’re hiking and you run into a cougar, make eye contact and speak to it firmly, back away,” Lehman said.

After this encounter, both Rodgers and Prasad say they plan to be more aware of their surroundings.

“I guess you have to keep your eyes open all the time now,” Rodgers said.

“Even if you want to go hiking, go to a park or something, you’ve got to think twice. Because we are walking in their habitat, too,” Prasad said.

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