Oregon students kept inside cougar sighting near school

SEASIDE, Ore. — A report of a cougar sighting this week in the northwestern coastal town of Seaside prompted school officials to move all student activities inside.

Seaside Heights Elementary School on Monday escorted students home after a neighbor informed Principal John McAndrews of a cougar in the neighborhood.

The alert came after residents of a local apartment complex witnessed a fight that left a house cat dead or missing at the hands of a violent predator, possibly a cougar.

“A couple of the tenants were out this weekend and actually witnessed a cougar grab a cat,” apartment resident Jennifer Paluch said.

The suspected cougar “snagged a few pets from the complex,” Paluch said.

The apartment complex manager says she reported the incidents to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and state police, The Daily Astorian reported.

An estimated 6,493 cougars lived in Oregon in 2015, according to the state.

People reported multiple cougar sightings this summer near downtown Tigard, a city of more than 48,000 outside of Portland, The Daily Astorian reported last week.