Nanaimo’s Cheryl Thompson got the surprise of a lifetime when she looked out her window last Sunday morning.
In a corner of the family’s backyard on Icarus Drive overlooking the Strait of Georgia, a large cougar was guarding a freshly killed deer.
“My husband was woken by our dog barking and growling at 1 a.m. the night before … we didn’t let him out thinking it was just raccoons,” Thompson said.
When they woke up in the morning, they saw the cougar and its kill.
The big cat was picking at the dead deer and guarding it closely, even fending off an eagle that tried to land and get a taste of the meat, she said.
The cougar also tried to bury the deer at one point. “It tried digging into the lawn but the ground was too hard,” she said.
Thompson called the B.C. Conservation Officer Service. Two RCMP officers were dispatched as backup.
The conservation officer used chalk-ball rounds to scare the cougar over the fence and down a steep ravine, and the deer carcass was removed to keep the cougar away from the neighbourhood.
“The officers wanted to make sure the cougar would go down our backyard embankment and not jump yard to yard,” Thompson said.
She said the cougar has returned and was in a neighbour’s yard about 10 p.m. Tuesday.
The big cat was also reported at the top of a stairway that leads to Blueback Beach off Icarus Drive on Wednesday morning, she said.
The Conservation Officer Service believes it’s the same cougar and noted it has not acted aggressively toward humans or dogs.
“I did post a sign at the Invermere Beach access to warn people of their safety as well as their dogs,” Thompson said. Signs have also been posted at the Blueback Beach access stairs.
It was an incredible experience for the family.
“We were just in Africa in January and it felt like we were still there,” Thompson said.
The Thompsons have four grandchildren who play in their backyard and there are families on either side with children. They have now purchased an air horn they will use to scare cougars away.
The conservation service said while attacks on humans are extremely rare, people encountering the big cats should keep calm, make themselves look big, make noise and back away. Don’t leave until the cougar leaves.
Reports of cougars in populated areas can be made to the Report All Poachers and Polluters (RAPP) line at 1-877-952-7277.
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