David Hurst was walking home late Thursday night to his home up on the mountain at the edge of the city when he saw a large shape flash across in front of him.

It was a cougar, around 50 feet away from him in the parking lot for the Mountain Station bike trails, and it had been in hot pursuit of its quarry, a deer.

It was like a scene out of Wild Kingdom, except it was in a Nelson neighbourhood.

“I think I stood them up,” Hurst said. “It was a real rude awakening (for me).”

The cat and the deer both flew in different directions after the encounter while Hurst wasted no time calling for a cab to take him the few remaining blocks to his house.

With the frequency of cougar sightings and three reported deer kills within the city limits, the cab driver didn’t need an explanation for Hurst’s request to drive him only two blocks up to his Mountain Station home.

“The driver said, ‘This is happening all over. We’re going to make a mint off these cougars,’” Hurst explained.

In the years he has lived in the Mountain Station neighbourhood Hurst has never encountered a cougar, nor have any of his neighbours. But in the last week he has come across them twice, the other encounter four days ago behind his house.

Although there weren’t any reports of cougar sightings in the city late last week, Hurst’s meeting isn’t uncharacteristic, said Nelson Police Department’s Sgt. Howie Grant, since cougars do tend to use the train tracks as a corridor.

And their primary prey, mule deer and white tail deer, are healthy in numbers and are increasing, moving down into city and settled areas to feed on the vegetation left bare by a lack of snow.

According to the Conservation Officer Service, cougars enter new territory like a city neighbourhood for a number of reasons. One reasons is that they are hungry and that’s where the deer are.

However, the second theory is the cougar population is large and the older toms are pushing the younger cats out of their territory, with some of these young toms coming into urban areas to establish their own territory.

On January 21 conservation officers had to destroy one cougar in Vallican after it killed three sheep. That cat was a two-and-a-half year-old male that bore scars of a territorial dispute with another cougar.

The only sure way you can catch a cougar is with dogs, said Sgt. Grant. The NPD are in contact with a local houndsman to track any cougars with dogs, he noted, they just have to wait for the right moment to begin.

“It’s difficult in a city because it’s a dangerous situation for the dogs and for the handlers as well,” he said. “If we get a good situation where the possibility of tracking this animal is good and safe, we will do that. And if we get that opportunity we will dispatch it.”

If a cougar is sighted again, or a kill is found, people are told to call Nelson Police Department (354-3919) or call the RAPP line at call 1-877-952-7277 (RAPP) or #7277 on the TELUS Mobility Network.

tim@nelsondailynews.com

Cougar encounter tips

- Be familiar with your environment and never turn your back on the animal.

- Stand your ground, yell, wave your arms and make yourself appear larger than you are and be alert to their response.

- If the animal stands its ground or begins to approach, look for a possible escape route. If there is a vehicle in the vicinity you may want to put it between you and the cat.

- Look for a weapon, a stick or a rock. If it comes close enough, become aggressive, don't be submissive and don't run away.

- Back away slowly, maintaining eye contact with the cougar.

Source: BC Conservation Officer Service

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