A Vancouver Island family is shocked and saddened after a cougar prowling their hobby farm climbed onto their deck and killed a beloved pet—a cat named Boots. Danya Hillyard’s said she knew something was very wrong when she saw her mother-in-law approaching Sunday night around 9:30. “My mother-in-law came racing up in her car and said she needed help and that she had Boots and he was injured and there was a cougar and he wouldn’t leave,” Hillyard told CTV News Tuesday. The attack happened on the back deck, the cougar knocking over a patio table to get to the cat. “The cougar dropped Boots on the ground and then went further down the deck and my mother-in-law bravely went and got our cat and brought him in for us,” Hillyard said. Despite her mother-in-law’s brave, quick action—Boots was too injured to survive the attack. A tuft of fur and spatters of blood could still be seen on the patio Tuesday, painful reminders of the fatal attack. “It sounds really dramatic, but we’re feeling hunted. We don’t feel safe on our own property because of the history, because of the repeated sightings,” she said, adding that after the cougar mauled Boots it continued “stalking” the property for hours—approaching windows and doors. The family called the B.C. Conservation Officer Service on the night of the attack. The officers arrived at the property the next morning but Hillyard said the agency told her they couldn’t take action because the cougar was not currently a threat to public safety. “I feel a human has been threatened. I feel like our family has been threatened,” Hillyard said. The BCCOS told CTV News in a statement that there have not been other reports of conflict with the cougar in the area, and that they will respond to future reports when they occur and as necessary. The province also said, in a statement, that the deer population near Mill Bay has reached a record low—depleting a major food source for cougars. Hillyard said the family feels a heightened sense of fear on their farm where they have lived for nearly 20 years. In a Facebook post warning neighbours about the cougar, Hillyard said they never encountered any issues with cougars and other natural predators until last year when one of their goats was killed, prompting the family to rehome several animals and fortify their barns.
