Conservation officers killed two cougars last night in the Port Moody and Anmore area after a string of attacks on local pets that left at least three dogs dead.
A spokesperson for the BC Conservation Officer Service described the capture and euthanization of the two big cats as both “an unfortunate outcome” and “necessary as the risk to the public was far too great.” Conservation officers killed another cougar near Ioco road earlier this week.
The cougars, said the spokesperson, had displayed behaviour indicating they had lost their fear of humans and were comfortable living in urban residential settings and hunting “non-natural prey.”
There have been at least five cougar attacks on dogs across the Tri-Cities in recent weeks, including reports last month of a pug getting snatched out of a yard in Coquitlam. More recently, a cougar mauled a man's dog to death while he was on a walk in Port Moody, and in Anmore, a puppy German Shepherd tapped to become a Coquitlam Search and Rescue animal was killed last week when a cougar pounced on the dog and dragged it into the bushes.
Conservation officers had been tracking the activities of the cougars for several weeks, investigating multiple sightings and encounters in the area, which included hanging around schools, homes and backyards during daylight hours.
The spokesperson did not say whether the BCCOS believed there remained an elevated and ongoing threat to public safety.
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