Cougar Shot in Saskatoon
Officials say tranquilizers not an option
Tuesday morning John Rutherford was walking back into his house when he noticed something strange. He says a rather large cougar was just lying in his front yard, staring at him. So he ran into his house and called police.
Rutherford says when he saw conservation officers pull out their guns, he asked why not tranquilize the cougar instead. Rutherford says they told him it would take up to 5 minutes to take effect. And they told him they don't use nets. However Rutherford still isn't convinced killing the big cat was necessary.
"I asked one of the conservation officers why not netting it, 'oh we're not prepared for that kind of thing' he says. Well this is cougar country, where should they be prepared for it, in Montreal? Like come on, spend a little money and take care of our animals or protect it."
Rutherford lives in Saskatoon's King George neighbourhood. It's an older area located close to the South Saskatchewan River. Houses sit side by side and an elementary school is a few blocks away.
Saskatchewan Environment and Resource Management released a statement saying it was thought tranqulizing the cougar would present too great a risk to the public.
Comments
It's sad to see that dead animal, but would we rather it b child
It's sad to see that dead animal, but would we rather it be a young child? If it takes 5 mins for tranquilizer to take hold, the animal could have hurt/killed someone while in serious distress. These things look like a common cat, except they are up to 8 feet long including their tail and can kill humans.
Cougar shooting
Unfortunately necessary. Darting is slow acting and may allow the cat to escape and kill some other day. Maybe a child. Tough call for those involved.
I am disgusted that there
I am disgusted that there was no other option than to shoot the cougar over and over again while people watched and reported it to be 'still breathing' as it was loaded into the truck. I am even more disgusted that Newstalk 980 reported the gory incident with such detail AND posted the inhumane photo on their homepage. Would you treat a person this way? I've just lost some respect for your reporting.
You can reason with a
You can reason with a person...not a cougar.
Oh get over it! A cougar is
Oh get over it! A cougar is not a person.
They had a option but they
They had a option but they didn't like it as it would have taken longer and not as easy as Shot to Kill. The best way was to tranquilizers then if anything goes wrong have officers ready to shot to kill. Try to save a life before you take a life away. No one was in imediate danger and if anyone was in imediate danger then of course shot to kill. Then of course there is the response well it will just come back into the city the next day. It won't if you take it far enough way. He was lost and probally hunger and scared. Cougars are know to not be seen but to see there tracks. They are not know to be around people at all. Yes cougars have attacked people but so have dogs, house cats, goats and many other animals we call "house" pets. Lets get a better plan for wild animals in our city.
Cougar
I live south of the city and we have cougar sitings here all the time. This spring one went through our property. We made sure that the domestic animals were inside and our son was in the house.
In the past years when the conservation officer has been contacted, they say there is nothing they can do about it. We have a school here from Kindergarten to grade 6 and sometimes the children are not allowed to go outside at recess because of the cougar and notes go home. For awhile the children don't ride their bikes to school and after awhile everything goes back to normal and the cougar sitings have subside.
This cougar was in the city, you need to do what you need to do to keep people safe.
I do believe that given the
I do believe that given the circumstances, the conservation officers and police did what they felt was right at the time and public safety was of the greatest importance. However, I do criticize the conservation officers because they did not fulfill what they are trained to do. It is their responsibility to be prepared as this is what they are paid to do. I have witnessed on numerous occassions where tranqulizers were used properly and effectively on wildlife animals which were administered by local veterinarians from WCVM. This should be a learning experience and as we move forward our local conservation officers can do their job effectively in the future.
gougar
omg thats so sad why would they kill the cougar. i feel so sad for the cougar. saskatoon might be in trouble for killing it :(
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