A recent cougar sighting in Sooke has prompted a local wildlife society to remind the community to stay 'wise' about coexisting with the big cat.
On Sept. 13, a social media post said a 12-year old girl encountered a cougar when walking on the trail between SEAPARC Recreation Centre and Journey Middle School. The girl’s parent posted the sighting online as a 'public service announcement', sparking a flurry of concerned comments from locals.
In response to the online fervour, Wild Wise, a volunteer-run educational program designed to reduce human-wildlife conflict and promote coexistence, has said “not every sighting is cause for concern”.
“Based on the reactions from that post, there is a lot of fear-provoking narrative being spread,” said Mollie Cameron, Wild Wise volunteer. “Fear comes from a lack of understanding, and you can tell, based on the comments, there is quite a great misunderstanding when it comes to predators that we coexist with on the Island.”
Instead, the Sooke-based organization is encouraging the community to take simple steps to coexist with their wild neighbours, including keeping dogs on leash, bringing free-roaming cats inside, properly securing livestock, securing all attractants such as garbage and walking children to and from school when possible.
"Especially if [the children] walk through dense forested areas to get to school," said Cameron. "Wild Wise’s messaging is that we encourage people to supervise children. It would also be ideal for the school system to set up a walking school bus ... with some adult supervision."
Cameron adds she is often surprised by the public's reaction to reported cougar sightings.
"I understand the death of livestock or having those surprising counters can be quite shocking," she said. "However, these animals are around us at all times. We should go into our day-to-day lives with the understanding that they do exist within close proximity to us. These incidents are rare, but possible, but there are many ways to prevent them."
Cougars make "great efforts" to avoid humans, says Cameron.
"When we do run into them, a lot of their behaviour is more curious than it is aggression."
As well as volunteering for Wild Wise, Cameron is also a member of the Cougar Coexistence Initiative, a citizen-led science project studying cougar population behaviour on the South Island.
Cameron and two others have been studying the big cat for four years, and, surprisingly, she has yet to encounter the animal, instead observing them via cameras set-up across the South Island.
“We monitor behaviours, travel patterns, potential established territories … just trying to expand our knowledge of the animal to provide a better public understanding, because they are such a misunderstood predator - they are so elusive."
The trio has created a map, pin-pointing cougar sightings across the South Island from 2016, but Cameron says they are cautious to share the information with the public.
“There is a lot of potential danger involved with sharing that type of information," said Cameron. “It may aid people with ill intentions to go out and hunt cougars - and I'm not into the business of helping people find animals to kill them.”
Cameron adds the same can be said for people sharing the exact location of their sighting online, and she encourages people to think twice before they do.
“We should be prepared to coexist with wildlife at all times, and not exclusively when people post about it on social media,” said Cameron. “We should take those coexistence measures ... we should be prepared for that always and not just when our neighbours are sharing they've seen a wild animal."
Wild Wise encourages the public to report cougar sightings to their organization. For more information, visit the Wild Wise website: www.wildwisesociety.org.
