A Cowichan Valley woman is warning other folks in the area after a cougar killed one of her cats last week.
Sometime between 5 and 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 19, Jennal Green’s four cats left her house in the rural Sahtlam area west of Duncan. Only three came back.
“They are indoor outdoor cats,” Green explained. “I make sure they are in at night as we know wildlife is all around us. Unfortunately they like to come out in the morning when my boyfriend leaves for work. When I got up around 8 in the morning, I knew something was wrong. I always call them into the house to have their breakfast and none of them showed up.
“After about an hour of calling them, two of my girls showed up, very shaken up. They immediately ran into the house and hid. My other girl didn’t go out in the morning and she was very scared when I woke up as well. When Jasper didn’t show up, I immediately knew she was attacked either by a cougar or a bird.”
Green spent two days wandering the trails and roads in the area before she finally found the remains of Jasper — a paw and what she believes was half of her skull — about 50 metres from the house.
Green has heard the cougar chirping near the house in the past, and since the attack. Three days after Jasper disappeared, she was sitting on the couch around 9:30 p.m. and heard “awful screams” that suggested it had caught another cat.
“I blew off my air horn to try to scare him off,” she said. “After posting on Facebook and talking around, I have learned more people have had encounters with the cougar as well.”
Green only has the cats at her house, but there are multiple households on the property, including some with young children, dogs, and chickens.
She cautions others to know where their pets are at all times.
“I would say hold your fur babies tight,” she said. “Keep them on a short leash.”
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