Cougar suspected in 36 livestock killings on Vancouver Island<\/p>\n
Published 11:00 am Friday, October 2, 2026<\/p>\n
Farmers are calling for more action from the BC Conservation Officer Service after one or more cougars is believed to have preyed on more than 30 livestock animals in the Parksville Qualicum Beach area.<\/p>\n
Most recently, three geese were killed on Billy Jolicoeur and Garrett Jolicoeur\u2019s farm on Garden Road in Qualicum Beach the evening of Sept. 28.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne was eaten in place,\u201d said Garrett, and added the cougar has been back for the past two nights, based on distinctive \u201cchirping\u201d sounds it makes. \u201cOne was just killed with a broken neck and puncture wounds to its neck, which is consistent with the cougar kill. And there was tracks around it. And then the third one I found kind of over the fence in the neighbour\u2019s treed area and it was partially buried. Again, which is a cougar sign.\u201d<\/p>\n
The reports date back to August at a friend\u2019s farm on Blower Road in Parksville, where 11 turkeys, five ducks and one house cat were killed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey physically saw three separate cougars there,\u201d Garrett added. \u201cIt was definitely an injured adult and there seemed to be two juveniles, one older and one probably this year\u2019s birthing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another farm saw 10 goats killed.<\/p>\n
The Jolicoeurs said they have counted 36 animals killed across five farms in the area, including their own. They believe the animal is behaving abnormally by killing more prey than it eats, due to its injury.<\/p>\n
Although they have not seen the cougar in person, they have heard its chirping sounds and another neighbour\u2019s surveillance camera has picked it up several times.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t want the community to think that we don\u2019t want any wildlife around here and that we\u2019re anti-wildlife and shoot everything that comes here,\u201d said Billy. \u201cWe understand there\u2019s wildlife around and we\u2019ve been dealing with that for years and it\u2019s always been fine and dandy. But it\u2019s because we suspect it\u2019s an injury.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Jolicoeurs called BCCOS, who sent an officer out to the farm.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe didn\u2019t want to track his dog, or bring his dogs, because we have \u2014 there\u2019s too many fences,\u201d Garrett said and added they were told to call the RAPP emergency line if the cougar came back.<\/p>\n
They are concerned after calling the emergency line, when they could hear the animal in the trees, but have not had an officer respond to the farm for two days and counting, as of Oct. 1.<\/p>\n
Especially worrying is the fact that the \u201ckill site\u201d happens to be 10 feet from the playhouse of their two young children.<\/p>\n
The BCCOS, in an emailed statement, said it has received reports of a cougar predating on livestock in the Qualicum Beach area.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe BCCOS recognizes cougar activity can be concerning and co-existence with wildlife can be challenging for agricultural communities,\u201d the statement said. \u201cConservation officers attended a farm on Tuesday and assessed the area, providing education and guidance on best practices to protect both livestock and wildlife.\u201d<\/p>\n
The BCCOS added that responsibility rests with farmers to take steps such as installing an electric fence and securing animals in a barn or coop overnight.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere have been no reports of a cougar showing aggression towards people or pets in the area,\u201d the statement said. \u201cCougar sightings in rural areas are not unusual. The majority of Vancouver Island is considered cougar country.\u201d<\/p>\n
BC COS said it will continue to monitor cougar activity in the area and respond as necessary to ensure public safety and protection of property.<\/p>\n
The Jolicoeurs said their animals were already secured at night, but they have also taken additional measures such as blocking large openings that could let a cougar into the enclosures, leaving lights on and leaving radios on.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re sleeping with our windows open so we can hear if any animal commotion happens outside,\u201d Garrett said. \u201cBut it\u2019s a pretty helpless feeling when we did hear the cougar here and we call for help and the conservation officers don\u2019t even return our call.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cougar suspected in 36 livestock killings on Vancouver Island Published 11:00 am Friday, October 2, 2026 Farmers are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":918246,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194299],"tags":[903,49,48,87674,36245],"class_list":["post-918245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-surrey","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-surrey","tag-vancouver-island"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/918245","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=918245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/918245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/918246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=918245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=918245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=918245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}