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Rise in cougar reports in Departure Bay, but officials say still no public threat

Dec 22, 2016 | 1:12 PM

NANAIMO — A family of cougars are again making their presence felt in the middle of a Nanaimo neighbourhood in Departure Bay, but conservation officers say the big cats still don’t pose a public threat.

Sgt. Ben York of the BC Conseration Officer Service says there were three or four reports on the night of Dec. 20 of cougars in the Woodstream Park area off Departure Bay Road.

“People were hearing what they believed to be cougar noises in the area,” said York.

One of the reports made at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday was categorized by the Wildlife Alert Reporting Program, (W.A.R.P) overseen by conservation officers, as an aggressive cougar. That cat was heard growling in the wooded area off Departure Bay Road down the hill from Newton Street, according to York.

“The reason it comes across as an aggressive complaint is that’s how the people put the complaint into the call centre,” said York. “The subsequent investigation showed that once again it was people reporting noises and the possibility there were animals in the area.”

York says it’s believed there are four cougars living in the Woodstream Park area, an adult female and three juveniles. York notes that reported sightings and sounds of the cougars have been made to conservation officers for the past six to eight weeks.

He says the cougars have not shown aggressive behaviour toward people or pets and are instead satisfied by a very high prey population, including deer, raccoons and squirrels. York says interestingly there were no reports of cougars in the Woodstream Park area when snow blanketed the area. He says that all changed on Tuesday night.

Janelle Wilson is one of the people living in the area that is unsettled about cougars moving in. Wilson lives on Bay Street, which backs onto the wooded strip of land where multiple people in the area have reported cougars lately. She’s seen the warning signs, but hadn’t heard the cougars for herself until walking with a friend on Departure Bay Road on Tuesday night.

“It was loud. I was going to stop and try to take a video, but they were loud enough that I didn’t want to stop and I just wanted to keep walking. It was chilling,” said Wilson.

She says the cougars she heard were acting aggressively toward something.

“They definitely didn’t sound that they were being very friendly with whatever they were interacting with.”

Wilson has mixed feelings about the cougars living in the wooded area straddling Departure Bay Road and Bay Street.

“I’d hate to see something happen to them, but I don’t know if they should be living in my backyard.”

York says there is a degree of fear among people living in the area. He says word of the cougars’ presence has been made clear via the two local elementary schools, warning signs and conservation officers interacting with impacted residents. He’s asking for people to accurately report these sightings.

“I understand people are scared and that is also making people phone in things that definitely aren’t cougars, as well as genuine cougar sightings and sounds,” said York. “But right now, we don’t have any reason to believe these animals are going to do anything bad.”

W.A.R.P also reports two cougar sightings nearby in the King Richard Drive and Queens Crescent area — one sighting on the evening of Dec. 21, the other on Dec. 16.

York is asking for the public to report all cougar and other human/wildlife encounters to the B.C. Conservation Officer Service at 1-877-952-7277. He says the public plays a critical role in maintaining safe neighbourhoods.