{"id":791867,"date":"2026-07-10T02:30:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T02:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/791867\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T02:30:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T02:30:11","slug":"elusive-cougar-avoids-capture-after-killing-sheep-on-bowen-island-farm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/791867\/","title":{"rendered":"Elusive cougar avoids capture after killing sheep on Bowen Island farm"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text<\/p>\n

Listen to this article<\/p>\n

Estimated 4 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

At the end of June, farmer Alastair Johnstone knew something was wrong when he found one of his baby sheep standing by itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went and looked a bit closer at it, and it had blood draining down its neck,\u201d the Bowen Island, B.C., farmer said. <\/p>\n

Concerned, he decided to look around the property. At the bottom of the field, he found a dead adult female sheep.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m guessing the ewe was protecting the lamb when the cougar grabbed it,\u201d Johnstone said.<\/p>\n

He then went to check on the rest of the flock and discovered he was missing another baby sheep. <\/p>\n

It took him nearly an hour to find the lamb. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was one of our firstborn lambs, and the cougar had picked it up, dragged it over a four-foot fence and down about a hundred yards, and then hid it in the bushes,\u201d Johnstone said. <\/p>\n

\"TwoAn employee was working in the orchard at Bowen Cider House two months ago when it almost stumbled on a cougar. Alastair Johnstone said the cougar was sitting and staring at the man in the middle of the day. (Alastair Johnston)<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t the first time livestock has been killed on Bowen Island by a cougar in recent weeks. Johnstone wants the animal removed after it also killed two other sheep at a different farm. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI never expected to have my sheep attacked by a cougar on Bowen, that’s just not my experience for the island,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Johnstone, a sheep farmer for 25 years, is also the co-owner of Bowen Cider House.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m really getting annoyed, because it’s now moved on to livestock and the strangest thing is, it’s not eating the livestock, it’s killing them, storing them and then leaving,\u201d Johnstone said. <\/p>\n

The B.C Conservation Officer Service confirms that on June 26 a cougar killed livestock and officers set up a trap in the area. <\/p>\n

Officers stayed overnight, but no cougar was captured. <\/p>\n

“The trap was pulled on June 28,\u201d said a spokesperson. <\/p>\n

Long-time resident Nelson Riley has been finding deer carcasses on his property for the last two years, since the cougar first came to the island. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor some reason, they like to drag them underneath structures or inside structures that aren’t used a lot,\u201d Riley said. <\/p>\n

\"CougarA trail camera on Cordell Wynne’s property in February 2025 captured video of the cougar strutting and sitting down. (Cordell Wynne)<\/p>\n

He has never felt threatened by the cougar. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf I had livestock, I’d have a different take on this,\u201d Riley said. \u201cThey can burrow under fences, it’s really hard to keep something like a cougar out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Co-habiting with the cougar has been a contested issue for residents, with online petitions calling for the cougar to stay and others calling for it to be removed. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf we don’t remove them early, then they’re destroyed by conservation because they become problem animals,\u201d Johnstone said. \u201cBowen is half the territory that’s needed for a cougar.\u201d<\/p>\n

His sheep have been relocated to another area on the island to keep them safe.<\/p>\n

Carla Skuce, environment and parks manager at Bowen Island Municipality, is asking people to be aware of wildlife when visiting the island. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s not just the cougar, we actually have potentially two bears here now,\u201d Skuce said. \u201cThe best thing is just making noise on the trail.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for residents, she is asking them to manage their attracts and garbage. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to pick fruit from fruit trees, we need to be more responsible than we have been,\u201d Skuce said. <\/p>\n

Up until these recent incidents, the cougar was not believed to have killed any livestock. <\/p>\n

Bowen Island Municipality said relocating the cougar from the island is not being considered and said cougars are highly mobile, elusive animals that are particularly difficult to trap.<\/p>\n

Conservation officers will continue to monitor cougar activity on Bowen Island and will respond as necessary to ensure public safety.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 4 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":791868,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[49,48,66,323],"class_list":["post-791867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791867","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=791867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791867\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/791868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=791867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=791867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=791867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}