Conservation officers have shot and killed a cougar spotted around the lower Capilano River.
The cougar first started showing up in the neighbourhood earlier in the week. It hadn’t shown any signs of aggression so conservation officers opted to just monitor the situation, hoping the cougar would move on.
“But is was obvious it made itself at home there. We started getting more and more sightings,” said Peter Busink, conservation officer. “It was up on numerous balconies and patios. This was in the middle of the day as well. It goes against the natural behaviour of cougars and represented an elevated and unknown risk to the residents of the area.”
Cougars can’t be tranquilized and relocated, Busink said, so officers made the tough decision to kill the big cat.
When the cougar was spotted along the Capilano River near Park Royal on Thursday, West Vancouver police cordoned off the area and kept the public away. A conservation officer arrived shortly after and shot the young, adult female — a little bit skinny but otherwise healthy — weighing about 32 kilograms.
“The officer walked up to it within 15 metres and it just lay there like a house cat, which is not at all normal behaviour — completely habituated, with no fear,” Busink said.
Conservation officers have been warning the public about increased cougar sightings in the Grouse Mountain and Mountain Highway areas since Tuesday. Busink said officers believe the two cats are part of the same family that is now dispersing across the North Shore.
Busink said North Shore residents can help mitigate the risk both humans and cougars face from each other by keeping their yards free of things that will attract rodents the cougars prey on.
One of the original sightings of the Capilano cougar came from Canyon Heights resident Craig Pamplin who met the cougar on the bike path in Klahanie Park on his daily commute home from downtown on Wednesday afternoon.
“I was riding my bike along and I saw this cougar come out of the bush and then walk maybe 10 feet toward me on the bike path,” he said. “I just kind of froze and got out my camera.”
The cougar stayed about 20 or 30 seconds before casually making its way back into the bushes. Pamplin warned two seniors coming down the path as well as a young mother with baby in a stroller.
“I said ‘You might want to rethink this and turn around.’ She did,” he said.
Pamplin said he never felt at risk during the run-in.
“It didn’t even cross my mind until after, actually. It was not aggressive at all,” he said. “It was very shy and just wanted to get out of there at that point.”
After learning the cougar had been killed, Pamplin’s comment was simply that it was a beautiful animal but he understood why it needed to be done.
Sightings of cougars in developed areas should be reported to the conservation officer service at 1-877-952-7277.
