Dog scares off young cougars in another close encounter in Tri-Cities

Two young cougars wandered right up to the back door of a home in Anmore, B.C., in broad daylight Saturday.

One of the young cats came up to the door to peer in, while the other hung back a little.

“I was sitting at the kitchen table doing some work and I saw something. A movement just outside the window — a very distinctive tail go by the window,” Garry Mancell, the homeowner, told Global News.

The family dog, Maisie, who was just on the other side of the door, likely scared the animals off, Mancell added.

Global News viewers may remember the dog from another story.

Maisie, a Labrador-cross, made national headlines in 2019 when she survived for three weeks in the wilderness after she was spooked by a car crash.

1:43 Longtime SAR volunteer searching for puppy who bolted after B.C. highway crash

There have been numerous warnings about cougars in urban areas recently. A two-month-old pug was snatched from a yard in the Tri-Cities last month.

Conservation officers believe there are numerous cougars roaming the area.

Coquitlam resident Tiffany Schiller recorded a large cougar on her doorbell camera walking through her townhouse complex also last month.

“It was unnerving. She was huge and didn’t seem to be in a rush — she was just sauntering around in the daylight,” Schiller told Global News.

2:04 Frightening encounters lead to cougar warnings in Tri-Cities

In this most recent case, the Conservation Officer Service said the young cougar’s own reflection in the glass sliding door likely attracted it, and that there have been no further sightings.