On the heels of a life-threatening cougar attack in Olympic National Park, the Washington state Department of Fish and Wildlife police received a report Monday, July 21, of an afternoon encounter with a cougar on private land near Evans Road east of Toledo.
While an original Facebook post about the encounter was quickly taken down, a statement from the Department of Fish and Wildlife reported that a local man had an encounter with a cougar while walking his dog.
According to the statement, the man and his dog escaped the encounter without being harmed by the cougar. The man did, however, sustain a minor injury to his ankle during the retreat from the wild animal.
After being checked by Department of Fish and Wildlife officers, he declined additional medical attention.
“Yesterday afternoon, WDFW Police received a report of an unconfirmed dog-cougar incident on private timber land in rural Lewis County,” the statement says. “The incident was reported to us that an adult male was walking with his dog when a cougar approached and the dog bit the animal.”
According to WDFW wildlife officers, a local dog handler searched the area of the encounter soon after the incident and again the following morning but found no trace of the cougar in the area.
A 4-year-old child was attacked by a cougar and injured Sunday while hiking at Olympic National Park.
The incident occurred on a popular hiking trail and was reported to park rangers at approximately 3:15 p.m. according to the National Park Service. Paramedics from Clallam County Fire District 2 and park staff responded, and the victim was transferred via LifeFlight to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
The child has since been released.
Cougar attacks are rare in Washington, with only two people killed by the apex predators in the past century, according to The Seattle Times.
