The BC Conservation Officer Service says it had no choice but to destroy a predatory cougar.
The big cat was killed this morning near a home in the Comox Valley.
It’s the same cougar that had captured and killed a woman’s 18-year-old cat right in front of her a few days earlier.
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There had been several cougar sightings in the valley over the past several days.
The COS had responded to the area previously with hounds, but were not successful in finding the cougar.
At roughly 7:25am, the cougar showed up on the access road to the modular home park and walked down the middle of the road.
It was seen very close to where children wait to catch a school bus and, the COS says, “was exhibiting very desensitized behaviour,” by moving around openly during the day and night.
A conservation officer and a houndsman responded and found healthy male cougar about 200 to 250 meters from a home.
It was subsequently destroyed and removed from the area.
The conservation officer said that three other cat carcasses were located in the vegetated area to the east of the complainant’s home.
He said that the cougar was clearly focusing on domestic house cats and hunting near people’s homes.
The COS says that “destroying wildlife is the least favourite part of any officer’s job but that the behaviour exhibited by the cougar did not warrant relocation efforts.”
