Oregon Public Broadcasting

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife officials are investigating a reported sighting of a cougar in Astoria.   Pete Springer reports,

Someone reported seeing a cougar near the Hilltop Apartments on Tuesday evening.

Police investigating say there was another sighting in the same area about two weeks earlier, but it wasn't reported at the time. 

Rick Hargrave is a spokesman for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

He says Oregon’s cougar population has gradually grown since the 70’s -- to about five to six thousand now.

Rick Hargrave “Lot of these younger cats get pushed out of the territory by the older cats and now they’re just looking for food sources so they’re pretty nomadic in that sense.”

ODFW officials recently confirmed a cougar was roaming near Corvallis.

Hargrave says as more people move to urban areas on the edges of forests, they're likely to see more cougars.