Washington state woman records cougars in her yard

July 26 (UPI) -- A Washington state woman who spotted what she initially thought to be a dog in her yard was shocked to discover it was actually one of two cougars.

Yvonne Reppe said she was working out Tuesday morning at her home in Lincoln, near Lake Roosevelt, when she spotted something out of the corner of her eye.

"I thought it was the neighbor's dog and when I looked up, we stared at each other and I realized it was most definitely not my neighbor's dog," Reppe told KOMO-TV.

She said the female mountain lion was joined moments later by her apparent mate.

"She turned a little to the right and that's when the male had come down our yard and joined her," Reppe said.

Reppe alerted her husband to the presence of the animals right by their patio and captured video.

"It's poor video because I was just shaking," she told KREM-TV. "I was just going from window to window to window recording them."

She said the big cats hung around for about 15 minutes.

Reppe said it had been years since she had seen a cougar.

"We hear them at night on the patio, but we've never seen one in our yard, it's not common to see them," she said.