A cougar living on Bowen Island is making its presence known and one recent encounter has conservation officers concerned.
In just 28 hours, two people had close encounters with the cougar in the Cowan Point area.
Surveillance video captured the large cat strutting across a family’s deck and through their fenced property on 3:15 p.m. on March 7.
The day before, a woman was walking her dog near Forest Ridge Road around noon when the cougar caught their attention.
She managed to film a video of the cougar balancing motionless on a tree branch.
“Wow, that's a cougar,” the woman can be heard saying in the video.
The Conservation Officer Service (COS) are aware of the recent cougar activity on Bowen Island and understands that it can cause people to be concerned.
Insp. Simon Gravel says COS has not received any reports of a cougar showing aggression towards people or pets.
"Over the weekend, the COS received a report of a cougar on a residential deck, which is concerning behaviour,” said Gravel.
"This was not initially reported to the RAPP line."
Back on Feb. 24, Gravel said the cougar had not done anything to warrant removal from the island.
"While there have been several sightings of the animal, by its nature the cougar has kept largely out of sight,” he said on Feb. 24. Gravel did not directly answer questions on whether or not the recent encounters change this statement.
According to Gravel, the last report to RAPP of a verified cougar sighting was back in November.
Watching the cougar grow
Cordell Wynne has lived on Bowen Island for 25 years and believes it is a privilege to have such a "gorgeous animal" around.
“I'm not concerned... I feel kind of privileged," he said. "So far, it has displayed no aggressive tendencies whatsoever, pets or children or anything,” he told Glacier Media.
He has had two encounters with the animal, both times on his driveway, and the most recent one about two weeks ago.
"This time was a little bit more unsettling, because I was actually walking down the driveway, and it cut in front of me into some bushes,” Wynne recalled. “Because there was the sheer cliff there, it couldn't go anywhere. So it was just like 12 feet away from my driveway.”
Wynne has watched the big cat grow from roughly 80 pounds to 100 pounds.
“My observation is that he looks way bigger now than he did two months ago,” he said. “It's so well fed here, it's pretty crazy."
He decided to install a trail camera on his property and managed to capture video of the cougar.
“When you see it come in and sit down, it’s got some gravitas,” he said. “That’s impressive.”
Wynne works at the local beer and wine store and has had an opportunity to chat with lots of people about the cougar. He understands that people are divided on the animal with some being cautious on walks or runs.
“This is kind of the price we pay for living in a wilderness area.”
One night back in January, resident Joshua Young was walking toward Bowen Island Trunk Road when he had a run-in with the cougar.
He wrote into the Bowen Island Undercurrent about his encounter saying he was less than 15 feet away from it.
“It was just the two of us, just me and what I personally consider to be the island’s only apex predator, face to face on one of the darkest nights of the month,” he wrote.
At first, he thought it was a lost dog but as he got closer the gigantic tail, long body and feline face unmistakably identified it as a cougar.
He managed to walk calmly by the animal without incident.
“We are lucky to have this one, it seems to have proven to be one of the good ones,” he said. “I’m grateful for the experience.”
Report cougar sightings
People are asked to be familiar with precautions in case of cougar encounters. COS advises people not to give cougars an opportunity to linger in an area and become comfortable with the “presence of people.”
"Conservation officers will continue to monitor cougar reports on Bowen Island and respond as necessary to ensure public safety,” said Gravel.
Backyard chickens can also be an attractant for cougars and people should make sure pets are on a leash.
"Cougars prey on deer, which are abundant on coastal islands,” said Gravel.
He’s reminding people that accurate and timely RAPP reports are important, as they help conservation officers determine the best course of action.
Cougar "conflicts" or aggressive behaviour can be reported to the RAPP hotline at 1-877-952-7277.
