Police in Victoria, B.C., said they made the “difficult decision” to put down a full-grown cougar after it was spotted twice in a busy area on Tuesday.
Police said they were first called to the Selkirk waterfront area along the east side of the Gorge Waterway around 5 a.m. to reports of the big cat.
They located the animal in the bushes alongside a building in the Burnside neighbourhood, and used vehicle loudspeakers to warn the public away from it.
Police posted officers outside a nearby school to ensure student safety, but the animal wasn’t seen again until about 4 p.m. Tuesday afternoon.
That’s when another report came in the cougar had been spotted in the middle of a park in 300 block of Waterfront Crescent — not far from where it had initially been seen.
“Given the close proximity to a school and preschool during care hours, the amount of people and residences in the area, and the amount of time it would take for Conservation officers to arrive, the risk to public safety was determined to be high and a decision was made to dispatch the cougar,” police said in a media release.
“We understand that people may feel strongly about this animal and its well-being, and we can assure you that this decision was not made lightly.”
Cougars have been spotted numerous times in or around Victoria in recent years, including separate cats prowling the James Bay neighbourhood near the B.C. legislature in 2015 and again in 2017.
— with files from the Canadian Press