By Eric Stevick
Herald Writer
HERALD WRITER
LAKEWOOD — While Lakewood High School went into lockdown Monday morning after a report of a knife-wielding former student, another campus in this ordinarily quiet community also was keeping its doors closed for safety’s sake.
The cause: a cougar.
English Crossing Elementary School kept students indoors for first recess Tuesday morning after a substitute teacher reported spotting a cougar in the area.
The cougar may have been spooked by the TV news helicopters circling overhead while a teen-ager with a knife reportedly held a high school student hostage, district officials said Tuesday.
"There was a sighting by an adult, and the principal went out to investigate," said Allen Sharples, the Lakewood School District curriculum director, who also serves as its communications officer.
Although the principal didn’t see the cougar, she brought the children in for that recess as a precautionary measure, he said. They went out to afternoon recess later in the day.
Debbie Tilger, who lives near the school, said she hopes the sighting prompts state wildlife officers to investigate. She has encountered a large cougar in the past and believes it may live in a nearby marsh.
"It wasn’t even afraid of me," she said. "It’s huge."
Tilger said she doesn’t want it hurt, just tranquilized and relocated, because she considers it a safety risk.
"I’m just glad other people are seeing this," she said.
Cougar sightings have become increasingly common in Snohomish County and in other Western Washington communities where suburban growth has encroached on traditional cougar habitat.
"This is not the first sighting over the years," Sharples said.
The cougar has long been a part of the school district culture.
The Lakewood High School mascot is a cougar, and earlier this month the Lakewood School Board approved the name Cougar Creek Elementary for its newest campus when it opens in 2003.
You can call Herald Writer Eric Stevick at 425-339-3446 or send e-mail to
