A Vancouver Island man captured video of a rare cougar encounter near Campbell River, British Columbia, on Tuesday.
Mike Anderson, 38, was walking his dog on Beaver Lodge Lands, a sprawling network of forest trails southwest of town, about 6:30 a.m.
Anderson said he walks Sage, his German shorthair pointer, on the trails twice a day. But on Tuesday, he saw a big cat in the area for the first time.
“It was just planted on the log trying to blend in,” Anderson told CTV News. “I’ve walked past that log many times and it just caught my eye that something was different.”
In the brief video of the encounter, captured on Anderson’s cell phone, the cougar is perched on a log, looking straight at the man and his dog, looking ready to pounce.
“I just backed off,” Anderson said. “Just stayed on the log until I couldn’t see it anymore.”
Anderson, an amateur wildlife photographer, said Sage didn’t even notice the cat. “She just looked at me funny because I was talking loudly,” he said.
The Campbell River man says he won’t be caught without a proper camera in the area again.
“That’s my only regret,” he said of the meeting. “It was a great experience and I’m glad it happened. They’re there all the time, it’s just a matter of when we’ll see them or not.”
While Vancouver Island is home to one of the largest cougar populations in the world, attacks on humans are extremely rare.
The province urges anyone who encounters a cougar to get as large as possible and back away slowly, keeping the cougar in front of them and ensuring the animal has a clear escape route.
Turning a cougar’s back and running away can provoke an attack, according to British Columbia government guidelines for avoiding a cougar attack.
“If a cougar shows interest or follows you, react aggressively, maintain eye contact with the cougar, show your teeth and make a loud noise,” the province says. “If a cougar attacks, fight back, convince the cougar that you are a threat, not prey.”
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