City of Victoria employee fired for beheading deceased cougar

The City of Victoria says a civic employee was fired after beheading a deceased cougar.

The animal was seen walking throughout the city twice on Nov. 21, 2023 and Victoria police decided to shoot and kill the cougar due to the public safety risk involved.

“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 at the time.

2:14 Cougar killed by Victoria Police after lengthy search

Now a City of Victoria spokesperson says the cougar was then taken to the city’s public works yard, where its head was removed by a city employee.

In a statement to Global News, the spokesperson said “the city has concluded its investigation process into this incident and we can confirm the individual responsible is no longer employed by the city.”