Cougar Tranquilized After Entering Home in Washington's Grant County

A cougar was sedated by wildlife officials after it smashed through a screen door and entered a home in Ephrata, Washington, on Tuesday, May 25.

According to local media, local residents spotted the cougar leaping over fences into backyards, prompting a search involving the Grant County Sheriff’s Office (GCSO) and wildlife officials.

During the search, a GCSO deputy captured video showing the cat racing down an alley and disappearing through someone’s property. A resident called Ephrata police a short time later to report that the cougar was inside his house.

Police arrived and were followed soon after by Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife officials, who shot the cougar with tranquilizer darts. The cat then fell unconscious, slumping over in the kitchen sink, before being carried away to a containment trailer. Ephrata Police told Storyful that the cougar was male and weighed about 150 pounds. It was taken to Douglas County and released it back into the wild, police said.

A spokesperson for Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife police, Becky Bennett, told The Spokesman-Review, “It was an adult male, healthy, nothing wrong with it,“ and added: "This was probably a wrong time, wrong place, wrong house situation.” Credit: Ephrata Police Department via Storyful