The Saskatchewan conservation officer service is warning people in Moose Jaw about an elusive cougar that has yet to be found and removed from the city, as of mid-afternoon on Monday.
“They're very quick and they're very stealthy. It's possible it could have cleared the city. But it's also possible and probably more likely that until dark, it's probably holed up somewhere,” said southwest region manager Bruce Reid.
Moose Jaw police first reported the cougar sighting Monday morning. The police service said they received a report of a cougar in the city’s northwest area at about 12:15 a.m.
A doorbell security camera caught an image of the big cat wandering by a home in the 900 block of James Street, west of the Kinsmen Sportsplex. The release said the feline was crossing a person’s yard.
Reid said there was a sighting of the cougar in downtown Moose Jaw around 8 a.m., confirmed by a conservation officer and a police officer.
“Unfortunately it was able to escape and they weren't able to deal with it. But it was there.”
The conservation service also received reports from the public of the cat heading back to the city’s northwest area, but the reports were unconfirmed.
Reid reminded people to “be vigilant” in reporting any sighting of the cat, either to the Moose Jaw police or to the provincial conservation officer service.
That can be done at the conservation service’s tip line, 1-800-667-7561, or from “a SaskTel mobility device at #5555,” he said.
Reid noted it has been approximately 18 years since his office, covering the southwest region from the Alberta border to Regina, last received a report of a cougar in an urban setting.
“I've been in the southwest for 30 years ... in the late 1990s and early 2000s for about a three-year stretch we had a flurry of reports in the Swift Current area. Some were confirmed, the majority were not.
“That was about the time when the Ministry (of the Environment) realized that the cougar population was probably on the increase in the province.”
More common is cougar sightings in the rural areas surrounding Moose Jaw, he said.
Saskatchewan has never recorded a case of a cougar attacking a human.
Reid said removing the cougar will likely mean his staff needs to either tranquilize it or kill it.
“Public safety is the priority. Trying to haze the animal out (of the city) is not an option; we need to make sure it's out.
“The ideal would be if we could tranquilize it and move it,” he said. That may pose a problem: A tranquilizer dart needs four to seven minutes to take effect, which gives the cat time to escape.
In the unfortunate event the cougar tries attacking a person, conservation officers would lethally remove it.
“They're trained to follow check-lists. We have a matrix in place that follows out the steps, but the decision is made at the time on the ground, in consideration of all the factors involved and remembering that public safety is the utmost priority,” Reid said. “I have the greatest confidence in them.”
