{"id":386775,"date":"2026-01-04T02:27:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T02:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/386775\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T02:27:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T02:27:09","slug":"cougar-sighting-reported-in-esquimalt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/386775\/","title":{"rendered":"Cougar sighting reported in Esquimalt"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The BC Conservation Officer Service (COS) has confirmed a cougar sighting in the Esquimalt area Friday night.<\/p>\n<p>According to the report, the cougar was spotted in Esquimalt Friday night just before 9 p.m. along near the Songhees Walkway, the scenic shoreline path that runs from West Bay Marina to Downtown Victoria.  <\/p>\n<p>As of Saturday afternoon, COS says it received one report of a sighting in the area.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"746\" height=\"554\" data-attachment-id=\"1297609\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/cheknews.ca\/cougar-sighting-reported-in-esquimalt-1297608\/2026-01-03-15_57_43-songhees-walkway-google-maps\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cheknews.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/2026-01-03-15_57_43-Songhees-Walkway-Google-Maps.jpg?fit=746%2C554&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"746,554\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"2026-01-03 15_57_43-Songhees Walkway \u2013 Google Maps\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cheknews.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/2026-01-03-15_57_43-Songhees-Walkway-Google-Maps.jpg?fit=300%2C223&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cheknews.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/2026-01-03-15_57_43-Songhees-Walkway-Google-Maps.jpg?fit=746%2C554&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/2026-01-03-15_57_43-Songhees-Walkway-Google-Maps.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1297609\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.3465801720490762;width:692px;height:auto\"  \/>Google Maps image shows the Songhees Walkway path that runs from West Bay Marina to downtown Victoria.<\/p>\n<p>No aggressive behaviour has been reported, but officers warn the public to give the animal space. <\/p>\n<p>The COS also advises you to \u201cStay calm and keep the cougar in view, pick up children immediately. Children frighten easily and the noise and movements they make could provoke an attack. Back away slowly, ensuring that the animal has a clear avenue of escape.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If you do encounter a cougar, bear or an unusual wildlife sighting, the BC Conservation Officer Service (COS) advises the public to contact call the 24\/7 hotline: 1-877-952-RAPP (7277).<\/p>\n<p>READ ALSO: <a href=\"https:\/\/cheknews.ca\/three-cougars-spotted-in-central-saanich-prompting-safety-reminder-1293408\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Three cougars spotted in Central Saanich, prompting safety reminder<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/cheknews.ca\/author\/lbrowncheknews-ca\/\" rel=\"author nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" data-perfmatters-preload=\"\" alt=\"Avatar photo\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/cropped-Erin-Haluschak-400-x-450-80x80.jpg\"  class=\"avatar avatar-80 photo\" height=\"80\" width=\"80\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLiz Brown joined CHEK News in the fall of 2024. Over the years, she has worked with the National Film Board, CBC Radio, the Chetwynd Echo Newspaper, NowMedia and contributed to print and online features&#8230;.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"author-link\" href=\"https:\/\/cheknews.ca\/author\/lbrowncheknews-ca\/\" rel=\"author nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMore by Liz Brown\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The BC Conservation Officer Service (COS) has confirmed a cougar sighting in the Esquimalt area Friday night. According&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386776,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[49,48,61],"class_list":["post-386775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}