Young cougar among two big cats shot while prowling Okanagan’s Lake Country

OYAMA, B.C. – Two cougars have been shot and killed in the Okanagan, including one prowling near a daycare in the community of Winfield, B.C.

Conservation officers tracked and destroyed both cougars on Wednesday.

The first animal was put down in Oyama, 22 kilometres south of Vernon, after stealing goats and sheep from a local farmyard.

Conservation officer Ed Seitz says the second cougar was spotted by children at a daycare just over 10 kilometres north of the first sighting.

He says the animal was young, and he notes juvenile cougars are more likely to be shot because they haven’t successfully learned to survive on their own.

Seitz points to an increasing number of cougar sightings around Lake Country and speculates populations of the usually shy and elusive cats are on the rise. (CKFR)