thanks Stuart and the article raises all kinds of questions about our integration with nature, remote areas, whether people really fed them or not, did the conservation officers have clear indication to justify killing them, can you transport a cougar on a BC Ferry if that is the only way out of the area et al
http://www.cheknews.ca/conservation-off ... ty-240670/
cougars are reported constantly by Saanich Police in the Greater Victoria area. they have been spotted in just about every place I go, but I've never run into one but grew up around them in the Okanagan and they never bothered us as kids. we all remember the tourist phoning the front desk at the Fairmont Empress Hotel saying there was 'a big dog' in the parkade which turned out to be a cougar, the one that entered the open window in a basement suite on Nanaimo St & the picture of the police &CO chasing after it to corner it in a yard, the lady who claimed to have been chased down the Galloping Goose, friends who were biking the Galloping Goose on the Sooke leg running into one, the one on West Burnside up by Pacific Forestry Centre, in Ross Bay Cemetery chasing deer. so far, nobody has been hurt (but didn't one kill a small boy up at Tofino who got separated from his parents walking back to a parking lot or was that a bear) and most, I believe, have all been transported. Of course, we have so many deer right in the City..all that temptation.
a bear was right on the boardwalk at Goldstream Park a couple years ago slinging fish onto it. it seems in years of plenty, they are just trying to get by, and really could care less about us humans. but then there are situations, like getting between a mother and her cubs, that creates grave danger. I sure wouldn't want a cougar or a bear killed on my behalf, but then, I wouldn't want a young child to be their lunch either. we try to be aware of where they are and stay out of their way but when there is potential danger to small children who may not know how to respond appropriately (like the cougar in the school yard), conservation officers usually get the call. I hope they act with integrity.