WATCH: Residents in a couple of Lower Mainland communities are being warned about cougars. Conservation officers say there have been a number of encounters over the last few days in Port Moody and on the North Shore. Jeremy Hunka reports.
Peter Morin wished he had more than a shovel when he came across a cougar while working on a North Shore bike trail Sunday.
“When I saw him, I turned my shovel up like this and I knew if it was going to come at me I was going to have to hit that cougar as hard as I could with the shovel,” said the 74-year-old Morin.
The cougar eventually left, one of several close calls in the past few days.
Several calls were made to conservation officers on the North Shore last weekend after cougars were seen on or nearby public trails.
“Some of the encounters are of concern, the cougars have been approaching people,” said conservation officer Chris Doyle.
WATCH: North Shore residents were warned about possible cougar sightings last month as well
“The reports we’ve had are cougars approaching groups of people, and they’re not being easily scared off,” he says, adding that it was unusual and very concerning.
One of the cougars have now been killed:
The sightings have been in a triangle between the base of Grouse Mountain and the Capilano and Seymour rivers. This after a cougar was spotted in Port Moody and another spotted today near Eagle Mountain Middle School.
Conservation officers are asking the public to be cautious and not let their pets stray too far off-leash.
“Don’t…turn and run from a cougar, because that may trigger a pursuit,” says Doyle.
It’s unknown whether all the sightings have been the result of one cougar, or several.
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