Updated 5 p.m. Early this afternoon, wildlife officials shut down Discovery Park and initiated a search for the Magnolia cougar. People are being told to leave the park, and we’re told it will not reopen until Monday at the earliest, unless they catch the cougar.
Signs are now being put up at the park, like this one in the visitors center.
And this notice is posted at the south entrance. Darren Friedel with the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife says that they received another call last night about a cougar in Discovery Park. “The reports seem credible,” he says, so Fish & Wildlife officers have set a trap within Discovery Park and will try to track the cougar with Karelian bear dogs. “The hope is to trap and relocate the cougar,” Friedel tells us.
This is the trap covered in ferns, using fish for bait. (Photo courtesy of KIRO 7). And watch this video from the Times demonstrating how the trap works.
The latest sighting is believed to be from “SeattleRio” who posted a comment here on Magnolia Voice last night. ”We spotted the cougar nearby the Navy government housing south of the flagpole at 5 p.m.,” SeattleRio said. “SPD responded after we contacted them, but was unable to observe anything afterwards.” We updated the map with the latest sighting:
(Click the icons for details of each sighting.)
Magnolia Voice first posted the news about a sighting a week ago, and many more sightings have been reported to us (here and here) over the last few days, attracting city-wide media coverage.
Until this afternoon, some neighbors had complained in comments and email that the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife was not taking the sightings seriously enough. “Why doesn’t DFW just set some traps?” Magnolia resident Marilyn asked yesterday. “A week into this and they won’t come out without a phone call made during a sighting, and then it will take them 20 minutes to get there. Are we supposed to ask the cougar to wait?”
For information about what to do if you encounter a cougar, visit here.
