IMBLER (AP) — An Eastern Oregon man shot and killed a female cougar that jumped over a fence and sat in his family’s yard.

Mike Coughlan’s wife, Lisa, spotted the cougar Saturday morning.

“At first I thought it was a dog but then I saw that it had a big tail,” she said. She then screamed: “There is a cougar in our yard!”

Mike Coughlan unlocked his gun case, pulled out a rifle and stepped into the backyard. He waited for the cougar to emerge from behind the shed and then fired, killing it instantly.

The Oregon State Police and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists removed the cougar. ODFW biologist Jim Cadwell estimates the 53-pound cougar was less than a year old. He said there was no evidence of other cougars in the neighborhood.

Lisa Coughlan later learned that people driving by had spotted the cougar in an alley next to her house. She wished they had warned her: “Did they think we had a pet cougar?”