North Okanagan conservation officers were unsuccessful Tuesday in finding a cougar spotted near Okanagan Landing.
First reports of the cougar came in at 9:42 a.m. from O’Keefe Road.
“We attended there at about 9:45,” said conservation officer Brent Smith Tuesday afternoon. “Apparently the cat had been there for more than an hour and we just never got word of it. We missed it by 10 minutes.
“We hunted the area and looked for the cat, and did some predator calling, trying to call it in, but we were unsuccessful with that.”
Smith said that residents in the area had been spoken to, advising them a cougar was in the area, and also spoke to the staff and student body at Ellison Elementary School.
The principal at neighbouring Clarence Fulton Secondary was also alerted.
Smith said Tuesday afternoon there were no further complaints, nor any reports or evidence of domestic animals being killed by a cougar.
“There’s a lot of green space around there and the best case scenario is that it went back up into the hills near The Rise, heads north and keeps going,” said Smith, who advised residents to call 1-877-952-7277 to report any cougar sighting immediately.
Residents were also encouraged to keep a closer watch on children and free-roaming pets for a few days.
“The likelihood of there being an issue is extremely low, but it’s not zero,” said Smith.
