A B.C. woman showed quick thinking and courage in fending off a cougar attack while out walking her dog.
Conservation agents say the woman did exactly what she should have done and her actions likely saved her dog’s life.
The woman came upon the wild cat on Saturday night in a co-op housing complex in Port Moody, a city on the eastern side of Metro Vancouver. The complex is near a hospital and surrounded by trees and trails.
She found the cougar standing right in front of her on a trail and then it charged, according to conservation officials. The woman pulled her dog behind her and stood in front of it. That made the cougar freeze.
“By pulling the dog behind her and standing upright, it’s what you are supposed to do when you see a cougar is make yourself look as big as possible,” Marc Plamondon with the British Columbia Conservation Officer Service told CTV Vancouver. “So this cougar most likely saw her as a threat.”
The cat turned and ran away.
RCMP were called but could not locate the animal. The woman did not want to speak on camera.
Some Facebook posts show this woman is not the only one to spot the cougar and the conservation officials say they have been officially notified of one other sighting in the area. They believe the cougar is likely kilometres away by now.
