A cougar got a little too close to an elementary school in west-central Alberta on Friday morning.
Someone saw the cougar walking down Main Street in Rocky Mountain House at around 4:20 Friday morning, and called 911. RCMP saw the big cat climb a tree near École Rocky Elementary School. Fish and Wildlife recommended that police shoot the cougar, and they put it down with a single shot.
Brendan Cox, public affairs officer with the Fish and Wildlife enforcement branch, said their officer made the recommendation based on protocol.
“According to Alberta’s cougar response matrix, euthanization is an option when a cougar fails to avoid humans or human-frequented locations and when the cougar’s presence is a potential public safety risk,” said Cox.
“Tranquilizers can be risky, especially in a situation like this where the cougar is up in a tree. It’s likely experiencing some heightened adrenaline, and that adrenaline would diminish the effects of the tranquilizer drug, and that would result in underdosing which would have the opposite of the intended effect and cause increased stress on the cougar,” said Cox.
Cox said the drug can take time to prepare and it doesn’t kick in right away.
“All these considerations combined with the speed and the agility of the cougar can mean that attempting to tranquilize them could result in their escape or in them reacting aggressively to people in the area.”
No one was hurt.
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