Two Colwood families got up close and personal with cougars over the weekend.
On Sunday morning, Chelsea Amaris Lee and her family woke to the sight of a cougar with a dead deer in their driveway.
Lee said she was the first one up at the Matilda Drive residence. She opened the living-room blinds about 7 a.m. and didn’t see anything unusual. But when her husband took a look out the window about half an hour later, he said: “Oh my goodness” after spotting the cougar.
He sat watching with the couple’s four-year-old daughter as the cougar prowled the street. When the animal walked back into their yard, Lee finally spotted the deer lying next to their truck.
“I didn’t see it until after the fact because we were looking at the cougar,” she said.
Lee said her daughter was enthralled at seeing a real cougar so close. “I said you’ll probably never see another one this close this clearly,” she said. “It was kind of startling on a Sunday morning.”
The cougar quickly took off, leaving the deer behind.
Matilda Drive is next to the Royal Roads University trails and there have been warnings about cougars in the vicinity, but Lee said she had never seen one of the animals before Sunday.
A family on a nearby street spotted two cougars in their yard.
It was likely the same mother cougar seen in Lee’s driveway, but this time with a cub, whose faint spots can still be seen. In a video posted online by Alex Labute, the mother is seen licking the back of the young cougar, who then falls to the ground playfully.
"I thought it was wild, I thought it was really cool just to sit there and watch them enjoy the backyard," Labute said.
The Conservation Officer Service said in a statement Monday that it was aware that a cougar had taken down a deer in the driveway of a Colwood residence, noting it receives relatively few daytime reports of cougar sightings in the area.
The statement said conservation officers will continue to monitor activity in the area, adding: “Residents in close proximity to large wilderness spaces, should be vigilant at all times.”
The service said the presence of prey species such as deer, raccoons and rabbits often attracts cougars, so feeding or otherwise attracting such species to your property is not encouraged.
The statement said pet owners should be cautious about allowing cats out from dusk till dawn in areas cougars are known to frequent, and dogs should be kept on leashes at all times outdoors.
Anyone who sees a cougar is advised to stay calm, keep the cougar in view and back away slowly.
"The main thing is to never run," said Lisa Lopez, a program manager with WildSafeBC, which aims to reduce human-animal conflicts in B.C. "Picking up your small child or your pet to just be able to control where they are is a good idea."
You can also make yourself appear large and use your voice, she said. "Feel free to yell. Make yourelf seem like something that's not easy prey."
Cougar sightings and carcasses can be reported to the Conservation Officer Service hotline at 1-877-952-7277.