When Vancouver Island resident Ted Benson heard a loud clicking sound coming from his porch Monday night, he figured there was probably a dog outside.
Benson’s pet cat had just scampered through the open door of his Ucluelet home, which he was airing out after using his wood stove, and the clicking sound wasn’t far behind.
To his surprise, it wasn’t a dog, but something with a much bigger set of claws – a cougar – and it strolled into his living room just steps behind his cat.
“I thought immediately that this is a cat in predator mode,” Benson said. “It chased my cat in and you don’t want to get between a cat and its food.”
The cougar’s ears and whiskers went back, and Benson said it appeared ready to pounce.
Instinctively, the homeowner threw his hands in the air and started yelling.
“I know that’s what you’re supposed to do with cats, basically look big, go after it,” he said. “It’s a wild animal, it doesn’t want to get hurt.”
He held the mountain cat’s gaze, and after a tense stare-down, it finally left.
“It wasn’t scared at all. It just turned around and calmly walked out,” Benson said.
That incident and other recent close encounters in Ucluelet have authorities alarmed.
Conservation officers killed a mother cougar outside a childcare centre in December, and believe her two cubs were only taught to hunt inside the town.
“The habituation toward people where they’re not showing any sign of fear, that’s starting to warrant them being removed from the community,” Officer Troy Sterling said.
Police tried scaring the cats away, even using rubber bullets, but nothing has worked. On Thursday, they managed to kill one juvenile male cougar, but its sibling is still on the loose and considered dangerous.
For advice on how to respond to a cougar encounter, visit the Ministry of Environment website.
With a report from CTV Vancouver Island’s Scott Cunningham
