A cougar caught peering into a Sooke home twice in one day doesn’t appear to be afraid of humans, conservation officers say.
Around 7:30 p.m. Saturday, the big cat came up onto a deck at a woman's home on Whiffin Spit and peered through her window.
It was the cougar’s second appearance at the home that day, said BC Conservation Officer Peter Pauwels.
“It’s unusual behaviour,” he said. “It tells me it’s curious, probably not afraid of people, quite possibly habituated to being around people.”
He said a tag on the cougar’s ear indicates it’s either the same cat that was tranquilized and relocated after being chased through James Bay last October, or one that was relocated from Florence Lake last spring.
While it hasn’t shown aggression toward people, it also hasn’t shown any fear and isn’t shy about coming right up to houses.
Because of that, Pauwels said the cougar would not be relocated again if it’s found – meaning it would be destroyed if caught.
“The fact that it came back suggests to me that it’s used to living around people,” He said. “It knows there are food sources around people and that’s what it’s come back for…It’s not what we like to see.”
Pauwels said it’s very rare in the first place for cougars to be relocated, and the recent sighting is an example of why it doesn’t always work.
The government’s policy on relocating cougars changed in April.
The policy says no cougars will be relocated unless they’re juvenile, in which case they could be kept captive permanently instead of being released back into the wild.
The Conservation Officer Service asks anyone who spots a cougar to report the sighting to their RAPP line at 1-877-952-7277.
