Conservation officers to trap and remove cougar roaming Newcastle Island
NANAIMO — After multiple sightings around the popular summer destination, conservation officers are taking the extraordinary step of trying to trap and remove a cougar from Newcastle Island.
Stuart Bates, acting Sgt. for the central island for the BC Conservation Officer Service, said there were three confirmed sightings of the cougar on Newcastle since July 7. There were many more on social media, including one posted to Facebook on Saturday showing the big cat sitting on the shores of the island.
Bates said while there’s nothing overly uncommon about a cougar heading to Newcastle to feast on the bounty of deer and raccoons, it’s something that typically happens in the winter.
“If this was November, we probably wouldn’t be doing much of anything at all because the chances of having a negative interaction with people would be negligible,” Bates told NanaimoNewsNOW. “But the chances at this time of year of it attacking or being attacked by dogs is pretty high.”