Jefferson County Sheriff's Log | Campers stalked by cougar

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The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office received 230 calls for service between Saturday, July 9 and Friday, July 15. Below are selected reports.

At 10:10 a.m. Saturday, July 9 in Chimacum, an employee at Jefferson Healthcare reported a patient with a dog bite in the emergency room.

A deputy contacted hospital staff and was told the patient said the dog had been protecting its owner’s equipment when it bit him the previous afternoon.

The man was no longer at the hospital. Staff said the incident was “sketchy,” and the man with the dog bite was grumpy and intoxicated.

At 1:07 p.m. Saturday, July 9, a signal-locator device went off in The Brothers Wilderness in the Olympic National Forest.

A woman with a broken ankle was at the Brothers base camp.

A search-and-rescue coordinator was contacted and responders went to the Lena Lake trailhead. 

A Coast Guard rescue helicopter was requested after it was reported the woman was losing sensation in her leg.

Concerns arose over hoisting the woman out. Olympic Mountain Rescue was contacted.

After a refueling stop, the Coast Guard helicopter returned and successfully hoisted the woman out. It then took her to Olympic Medical Center in Port Angeles.

The emergency response was closed at 8:30 p.m.

At 2:57 p.m. Saturday, July 9 in Quilcene, a man called about a harassment call he had made two years earlier when he was living in Quilcene.

He said he had not had any contact with the woman he had complained about.

The caller was told he had the option of pursuing a court order if he was worried about any contact with the woman. 

At 6:10 p.m. Saturday, July 9 in Port Hadlock, a deputy stopped to investigate a gate with a lock that appeared to have been broken.

He discovered the gate was open because the landowners were camping on the property.

At 10:19 p.m. Saturday, July 9, an emergency signal locator was activated.

Authorities learned a woman had activated the device to call a search-and-rescue team.

The woman said four adults and two dogs were on their way to Tubal Cain Mine and had set up camp by the B-17 plane crash site when they saw a cougar.

The woman said the cougar was stalking them. The campers had been able to drive off the cougar by banging pots and pans and blowing a whistle, but the cougar kept coming back, advancing closer to the campers from a number of different directions.

The woman said they could not get to their tent because of the cougar and wanted help from a search-and-rescue team.

The camper was advised to continue making noise and to stay in a group, then leave the area at daybreak.

It was determined a search-and-rescue response was not warranted.

Fish and Wildlife officers were notified, and two officers were en route to the location.