Terrified Homeowner Watches In Shock As Cougar Crashes Through Their Screen Door In Washington

Imagine starting your morning like any other, maybe making coffee or scrolling through your phone, when suddenly, a cougar bursts right through your screen door.

Sounds like a wild dream, right? Well, for one homeowner in Ephrata, Washington, that’s exactly what happened.

It was just an ordinary morning when peace and quiet turned into chaos. The man was standing outside his home when something unexpected caught his eye: a large, tan blur moving fast through the neighborhood.

It was a full-grown cougar.

According to Ephrata Police, the big cat had first been spotted a few blocks away on D Street, leaping over someone’s backyard fence into their garden like it was nothing. 

From there, it kept moving north toward F Street, where it locked eyes with the homeowner. For a brief moment, the world probably froze.

Then, in one wild leap, the cougar tried to jump straight through a closed window. When that didn’t work, it turned toward the man’s screen door, and this time, it didn’t miss.

In seconds, it ran through the screen door and straight into the house.

The startled homeowner barely had time to react. He immediately called for help, reporting the terrifying encounter to the police.

He then waited outside for what officials described as a “lengthy period of time,” giving the uninvited guest plenty of space to calm down.

When officers from the Department of Fish and Wildlife arrived, they quickly realized the cougar had made itself at home, literally.

The 150-pound cat had wandered into the kitchen, likely scared and confused, unsure how to get back out.

Wildlife officers managed to hit the cougar with a tranquilizer dart, but before the sedative kicked in, the big cat tried to escape through the window above the sink.

Once the tranquilizer took effect, the officers transported the cougar back into the wilderness.

Luckily, no one was hurt, not the homeowner, not the animal.

According to Newsweek, Becky Bennett, a spokesperson for the wildlife police, said that the cougar likely had no intention of attacking anyone.

Instead, the animal was probably just scared and looking for a safe place to hide after wandering too close to homes, as Bennett explained:

“Generally an animal gets disoriented and it’s a matter of them getting lost and not knowing how to get away from the population.”

She mentioned that officers tagged the cougar just in case it decides to wander into another neighborhood again and summed up the whole event as “a wrong time, wrong place, wrong house situation.”

It’s not unusual to spot cougars or even bears this time of year, especially in eastern Washington.

These close encounters happen when something in the area, like garbage, attracts the animals closer than they should be.

Stories like this show that in places where wild land meets suburban life, the line between “out there” and “right here” can be thinner than we think.

And sometimes, nature doesn’t just visit your backyard; it walks right into your kitchen.