Prince George, B.C.- While Cougar sightings  are  not uncommon  in communities throughout B.C., it is  unusual for  a Conservation Officer to be  attacked by one of the big cats.

But, that is  what happened to a C.O.  in Salmo  last night while investigating a report of  the cat trying to get into a home.

It was the second  cougar call that officer had attended  last night.  The first, occurred   shortly after 7 pm when  the Conservation officer  from the West Kootenay zone responded to a report of an injured cougar.   The animal  ( a mature female) had been struck by a pick up truck and  was  suffering  on the side of the road.  The C.O.  euthanized the animal.  Immediately  after that complaint,  the same officer responded to a complaint  about a cougar that was trying to enter a residence through a window.

The  Conservation Officer was attacked by that juvenile male cougar which the Conservation Office  says was extremely emaciated.   The Officer,  who suffered minor injuries,   and was forced to  kill the cat.   It is the first time  C.O. Deputy Chief Chris Doyle has ever  heard  of a C.O. being attacked,  and he’s been with the service for  23 years.

Officer in charge of the Okanagan region,  Tobe Sprado says there has been a slight uptick in the number of  complaints about cougars.  There were  10 complaints in the Salmo area in February alone.  Sprado  says the snow this winter is having an impact on  food supply for the big cats “With the current snow conditions in the west Kootenays, it’s  deep, and  generally  the prey species are in the valley bottoms, specifically deer and elk.  With the snow at times  being non compact, loose,  it makes it  difficult for  predators  such as cougars to prey  efficiently  on their normal prey species.  So then they start to come into  communities looking for  a food source, generally  pets,  dogs, cats, that sort of thing.”

Deputy Chief  Doyle  says  while the two incidents  happened  in Salmo,  there is a message for everyone, “The messaging  around cougar safety is consistent with what we provide year ’round, and that is to be cautious with  domestic animals,  pets,  livestock   are susceptible to  cougar attacks, so electric fencing  works well  there.  Keeping other animals contained  or indoors,  especially at night.  If you do encounter a cougar, you don’t want to   turn and run from a cougar,  you don’t want to  turn your back  on a cougar.  You want to make sure small children are kept close.   In the rare event that a cougar attacks,  as in a case like this,  is to fight back and try and deter the attack.”