Cougar shot and killed by Clearwater, B.C., RCMP

A Mountie shotand killed a cougar in Clearwater, B.C.,Tuesday morning, after it killed a pet cat and displayed "unusually brazen" behaviour around humans.

Clearwater RCMP Sgt. Grant Simpson said police had received several reports of a cougar in a residential area.

"Obviously people were concerned as they're just about to send their kids away for school busses," Simpson said.

The RCMP patrolled the area, and were eventually able to track the cougar down. But when they found it, it was acting strangely and looked unhealthy.

"It had no fear of anything," Simpson said. "You could tell by looking at it, it was obviously very hungry."

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As RCMP observed the cougar getting close to people, they decided a tranquilizer would not be enough they would have to shoot it.

Simpson said the B.C. Conservation Service will do a necropsy on the cougar's carcass to determine why it was behaving so oddly, but Simpson suspects it was because the animal was in poor health.

"It had a limp and just looked unhealthy," he said.

With files from Jenifer Norwell