A group fishing on Whatshan Lake in the West Kootenay region captured a rare sight with their camera this past Sunday.
Melissa Zeboroff and her friends, Anna Rudkoski and Josh Walker, were out on a boat when they spotted something swimming across.
They weren’t sure what it was at first, but once it got close they realized it was a large cougar. “It was huge,” said Zeboroff.
It was only 10 feet away from them and kept looking over at the boat while swimming.
Zeboroff says it was a “once in a lifetime experience”, but did add that it was “very scary” at the same time.
One the cougar made it to shore, Zeboroff said it turned around and glared at them before heading off into the trees.
“We booted it out of there,” she said. “It was a bit nerve-wracking for us.”
In 2013, B.C. Conservation Officer David Cox told Global News swimming is a very common behaviour of cougars because they’re territorial and often search for new areas to inhabit and new sources of prey.
But he said it’s rare for people to get a glimpse of a cougar let alone getting to watch one swim.
Whatshan Lake is about an hour’s drive away from Nakusp.
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