Cougar on the prowl in Saanich's urban Uptown area prompts police warning
Public advised to call 911 and back away slowly if they encounter the animal
Saanich police have issued a public warning after a cougar was spotted prowling around the Greater Victoria city's urban Uptown neighbourhood in several locations Wednesday night.
It's the second police warning about a cougar on south Vancouver Island this week after Central Saanich police urged caution after one of the animals was spotted near Saanichton village centre on Tuesday.
In a Facebook post made Thursday morning, Saanich police said officers spotted the animal at around 10 p.m. in the 3800 block of Rowland Ave., and later received reports of it walking along the Lochside Trail between Darwin Avenue and Saanich Road in Swan Lake Park.
A video posted to a local Facebook page shows the animal walking near a residential complex just north of the Uptown Shopping Centre, across from the city's main fire hall.
Police say the animal has been reported to the conservation officer service and the public has been asked to use caution.
"If you encounter the cougar walk away slowly and call 911," the post says.
According to WildSafeBC, cougars account for approximately 2,500 calls to conservation officers in B.C. every year, though many turn out to be other large cats, and attacks are "very rare."
"If you encounter a cougar, keep calm and never run," the agency says.
"Make yourself look as large as possible and back away slowly, keeping the cougar in view, and allowing a clear exit for the cougar. If attacked, always fight back and never 'play dead.'"
Need to co-exist: researcher
Cougar sightings are not unusual on Vancouver Island; last year, a hiking trail near Nanaimo was closed due to an "aggressive" animal, and a Tofino family received national attention after being visited by a cougar in their hot tub.
Christopher Bone, an associate professor of geography at the University of Victoria, says Vancouver Island, particularly the south, has one of the highest densities of cougar populations in North America, but they are increasingly at risk due to humans encroaching on their habitat.
He's been studying the animals as part of a multi-year project monitoring cougar movement around the region in order to better understand their behaviour.
"Cougars are very risk-adverse," he told CBC All Points West host Jason D'Souza, saying the animals tend to stay away from humans, when possible, but seem to be increasingly forced into urban areas due to dwindling greenspace that has been "carved up" by industrial activity and new developments.
"The big picture is habitat loss," he said. "We have all these disjointed greenspaces everywhere … and cougars move through these spaces."
He says it's important for people to think about how they can make space for animals to roam through their territory while minimizing the possibility of conflict, noting that as an apex predator, cougars play an important role in managing wildlife populations.
"Not having cougars and other large carnivores in this area would be highly detrimental not just to the wildlife around but, more broadly, our forest ecosystems."
With files from All Points West