Conservation officers shoot injured cougar near B.C. school, homes

COLDSTREAM, B.C. – Conservation officers have shot an injured cougar that was hanging around some homes and a school in the north Okanagan community of Coldstream, B.C.

Sgt. Josh Lockwood of the B.C. Conservation Officer Service says the two-year-old male was destroyed on the edge of Kalamalka Lake Provincial Park.

He says conservation officers think it got into a territorial dispute with another cat because one of its front paws was nearly torn off.

Lockwood says the animal also suffered bite marks and had scratches up and down its back.

Conservation officers had no choice but to shoot the cougar because Lockwood says the animal was so close to homes and an elementary school.

(CKIZ)