UPDATED 10am:  We just checked with Darren Friedel from the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife and he tells us that there were no new cougar sightings overnight and no activity near the traps in the park.

Longtime Magnolia resident Myron Cross says he saw the cougar on Thursday around 4:30 p.m. He was at his parent’s home near Fort Lawton when he saw the cougar in the backyard. He spoke with us about the encounter:

See the map of cougar sightings here.

We first posted our story about a cougar sighting last Friday, and since then we’ve received lots of comments from people who say they’ve seen the big cat.  Here’s the latest sighting from Magnolia Voice reader Scardycat:

Last night (8/31) around 12:30 a.m. I was returning to my home between 35th & 36th and Bertona and witnessed an extremely large cougar in my alley heading south. I chased it in my car heading north about 1/2 a block until it cut through a neighbors yard toward 36th ave w. It paused at the top of their stairs and looked down at me. I rolled down my window and yelled at it to go away. It was not scared. (I was!) My cat was outside and this thing had almost been right on top on him. After bringing him in I called 911 and the operator said that they had received numerous reports of sighting right here in Magnolia. Just thought people should know….

(This file photo of another cougar from the Department of Fish and Wildlife illustrates an adult male standing about 30 inches tall.)

According to our partners, the Seattle Times, there has only been one cougar sighting reported to the Department of Fish & Wildlife. If you see the cougar, please call 911 and then drop us a note at tips@magnoliavoice.com so we can share the sighting with everyone and we can track the animal’s movements.   Based on the information we have received, the cougar is most often seen at night.  This is consistent with information about cougars provided by the Department of Wildlife website.

Here is some additional information about cougars on the loose:  The cougar’s ability to travel long distances occasionally brings these cats into seemingly inappropriate areas, even places densely settled by humans. Such appearances are almost always brief, with the animal moving along quickly in its search of a suitable permanent home. However, where humans are encroaching on wildlife habitat, the number of cougar sightings and attacks on livestock and pets is on the rise.

Cougar attacks on humans are extremely rare. In North America, roughly 25 fatalities and 95 nonfatal attacks have been reported during the past 100 years. However, more cougar attacks have been reported in the western United States and Canada over the past 20 years than in the previous 80. In Washington, of the one fatal and fifteen nonfatal attacks reported here in the past 100 years, seven attacks occurred during the 1990s. A high percentage of cougars attacking domestic animals or people are one- to two-year-old cougars that have become independent of their mothers.

If you see the cougar, the Wildlife Department says you should call 911.

Seattle Times coverage here.  KING TV coverage here.

Update: We’ve created a map tracking the cougar sightings

Heard from someone at Mounger Pool that a neighbor had seen a cougar on the northeast part of  Magnolia, near the Midnight Mart.  Have you heard anything of this?