A rare look at a young cougar

A large chunk of hairy meat is pulled from a cougar’s stomach, as students from West-Mont Montessori school guess what the one-year old feline’s last meal was.

Children forgot about the rank smell as they peered in closer, guessing “deer,” “rabbit,” and “sheep.” One boy guessed correctly with his shout of “goat!”

Dr. Helen Schwantje, provincial wildlife veterinarian and Peter Pauwels, a conservation officer with the Ministry of Environment, brought a euthanized cougar to the Metchosin private school to perform a dissection for students last Friday.

The male cougar was euthanized in September in Central Saanich after it attacked and killed several goats on a farm.

Before the dissection could begin Pauwels explained the cougar’s death.

“In this case we had no choice, it’s always a sad thing to put any wildlife down. At least now we can learn from it,” he said.

Many of the students sat enthralled when Schwantje began her presentation, but held their noses due to the smell of the thawing, decomposing carnivore. Some students quietly left the room when cat was first cut open.

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Source: Victoria News