A cougar was safely released and relocated in the Big Lake area Monday evening east of Williams Lake after it was unintentionally caught in a live trap.
#BCCOS safely released & relocated a cougar which was unintentionally caught in a trap in the Williams Lake area last night. The young female cougar was tranquilized & taken a short distance away. CO's stayed on site to ensure the cougar safely recovered & watched it walk away. pic.twitter.com/G12vQhAYhc
— BC CO Service (@_BCCOS) December 10, 2019
Conservation officer Ron Leblanc said he and one other conservation officer attended after the owner of the trap called in the incident.
“The young female cougar was probably about 18 to 20 months old and pretty healthy, ” Leblanc told the Tribune Tuesday. “There was nothing wrong with her, but she is around that age when they get booted out by their mom and have to fend for themselves.”
Initially Leblanc and the other officer were going to try and move the trap, but it wasn’t stable enough so they tranquilized the cougar and transported her about five kilometres away to release her.
They stayed until they watched her safely walk away.
As for cougar sightings overall, the season has been a normal one, he said.
“We’ve had no more or less than other years.”
Read more: Cougar sighted several times in Williams Lake Westridge, Woodland Drive area
news@wltribune.com
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