NESKOWIN, Ore. — There was another cougar sighting on the Oregon Coast over the weekend, adding to the growing number of cougar sightings in the area over the past couple of weeks.
And this time, it wasn't just one cougar, but three that were recorded on video early Saturday morning.
Video footage from a homeowner's doorbell camera shows the three big cats walking around the driveway before taking off into the neighborhood. The video was taken in Neskowin, about 10 miles south of Pacific City. The homeowner said their dogs were outside in the fenced back yard when the cougars showed up, but the dogs were OK.
The latest cougar sighting marks the fourth in less than a month on the Oregon Coast. On July 16, a cougar was spotted at Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach. The beach around the landmark was closed to the public to give the cougar time to leave the area. Officials with the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife (ODFW) believed that the cougar came down to the rock at low tide to hunt birds. While their primary food source is deer, a wildlife biologist with ODFW said they also eat other mammals and birds.
Two weeks later, there were two separate cougar sightings in Cannon Beach on July 31. The sightings happened during the morning and the afternoon, in an area between 2nd and Sunset Boulevard, west of Highway 101.
Cougar numbers have been increasing in recent years at they migrate from areas with denser populations to search for new habitat, according to ODFW.