An unusual new resident on Bowen Island is causing concern among some residents.
A cougar was first spotted on the island in late July, prompting a municipal alert on July 25.
It is believed it swam to the island or floated on some logs.
Since then, the animal has been spotted multiple times and is believed to have killed several deer.
A few weeks ago, an Airbnb guest at Endswell Farm on the island woke up at about 2:30 a.m. to a cougar scratching at the door.
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“It was clawing on the door,” Dillon Pryce-Jones said.
Farm owners have been in contact with conservation officers.
“They told me their policy is not to interfere with wildlife until they start attacking outside of their natural predatory food chain and it hadn’t attacked my animals and gone after a kid or a dog yet so they didn’t want to do anything,” Noah Pryce-Jones said.
“If they did attack my animals (they told me) I had the right to protect them.”
While the cougar hasn’t had any reported dangerous interactions with people, islanders are split about what should be done about it.
“The response has been fairly divided,” Bowen Island Mayor Andrew Leonard said.
“So there’s obviously, it creates anxieties and creates fear in the community about what having an apex predator on the island could mean for pets and livestock and children and residents.
“And then there’s also folks who really believe that Bowen’s a wild or natural place and (a) cougar is wild. The natural animal has every right to be here just as much as we do.”
According to the latest research, B.C.’s cougar population fluctuates between 5,000 and 7,000 animals.
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