The “all clear” was given shortly after 3 p.m. Thursday by Rogue Valley Emergency Management after authorities tracked down and killed a cougar that attacked a cat in the backyard of residence on Glendale Avenue in Ashland on Thursday afternoon.

The cougar was shot at about 2:40 p.m. Thursday. Authorities “all agreed dispatching the animal was necessary,” Ashland Deputy Chief Dan Moulin said in a text message. It was an Oregon State Police trooper who fired the shot, he said.

The site is not far from the Siskiyou School at 681 Clay St.

Ashland police, OSP and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife officers were at the scene.

After the cougar attacked a pet cat Thursday morning, Ashland police officers later became involved in something of a standoff with the cougar, waiting to see if it will depart town on its own or if it would have to be shot, said Ashland police Chief Tighe O’Meara.

The cougar was in “somebody’s backyard” on Clay Street where Ashland officers were watching the animal to determine how to proceed and if it could be shot while maintaining safety to bystanders, he said.

The cougar crossed the legal threshold required for shooting it because it has lost what “wildlife folks call its ‘wariness of people,’” O’Meara said. The animal was far into the city, prowling in daylight and attacked a domestic animal.

A call first came into dispatch at 9:48 a.m. Thursday reporting a cougar attacking a domestic animal, he said. At 1:15 p.m., the caller reported the cougar had returned, and law enforcement became involved.

This is the third cougar to be shot at during O’Meara’s time as chief, he said. One cougar was shot and killed while another was shot at and escaped.

Bears have been more commonly involved with Ashland law enforcement because they are more common in town, but they also present less of a threat. Bears are omnivorous and can and often do eat vegetarian while cougars are more strictly carnivores.

“That means it may attack us and our pets,” he said.

Sightings of cougars, also known as mountain lions, are not uncommon in Ashland, but usually during nighttime hours, not during the day.

The Ashland Police Department says anyone who observes a cougar and feels there is a danger should call dispatch at 541-776-7206. If there is no apparent danger, a report of the sighting can be submitted via APD’s online wildlife reporting tool at gis.ashland.or.us/cougar/.

Additional information about cougars and other wildlife can be found at dfw.state.or.us/wildlife/living_with/cougars.asp.