LUMBY — While impaired drivers cruise the roads in Lumby, cougars—the wild kind—have also been on the loose. On May 27 a rancher on Sigalet Road, north of Lumby, reported a cougar killing his sheep and subsequently being spotted just meters from his house.

RCMP say cougar sightings are on the rise in the Southern Interior, and ask anyone who sees one to call the police or district conservation officers.

In other Lumby news, an impaired driver was detained on May 27 after police attempted to pull him over for speeding and he attempted to flee.

"Fortunately, he made the mistake of turning down a dead end road and had nowhere to run and we were able to stop him quickly," Cpl. Henry Proce said in a media release.

It was 3:30 p.m. when the driver failed the roadside screening device and was issued an immediate roadside prohibition from driving for 90 days. His car was impounded for 30 days. The driver is a 29-year-old Cherryville resident and will be facing considerable financial sanctions from ICBC before getting his driver's license back.

The same day, and the night before, Proce says "someone in a small size pickup went on a real tear."

The driver caused considerable damage to the driving range at the Coldstream Golf Course on Dure Meadow Road and to the steel gate of the lumber mill across the road. The vandalism is in the thousands of dollars. It appears the same vehicle made its way into the village and ran over garbage cans along Hwy 6 in the vicinity of Mountainview Road. Police recovered some evidence from one of the scenes and ask anyone with knowledge of who this driver may have been to call the Lumby RCMP or Crime Stoppers.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Charlotte Helston at chelston@infotelnews.ca or call (250)309-5230.