Joanne Green has lost her seven-year-old dog Rupert to a violent cougar attack in East Sooke.
On Tuesday morning at 7:30 a.m., Green let her two lakeland terriers outside as she normally does.
“About 15 minutes later, I heard a scream from one of the dogs,” she said.
Green ran outside to see a cougar rushing into bushes on her rural property, and noticed Rupert lying still on the grass, bleeding.
“The cat got him and shook him,” Green said. “He had severe brain trauma and there were puncture wounds.”
She immediately rushed her dog to the Glenview Animal Hospital.
“They got him somewhat stabilized and we transferred him to the central hospital,” Green said.
Rupert spent the night in critical condition at the Central Victoria Veterinary Hospital, and died on Wednesday morning.
Conservation officers attempted to track the cougar with the help of a houndsman, but were unsuccessful.
The Conservation Officer Service is no longer searching for the cougar as tracking dogs won’t be able to find a scent.
“[The conservation officers] basically said they couldn’t go back unless they got another call of another sighting,” Green said.
She said she wasn’t aware there was a cougar in the area.
“I heard that some of my neighbors knew, but there were no signs up, nothing,” she said.
On June 1, the Times Colonist reported the sighting of two cougars outside of a Sooke bed and breakfast. Both animals, which may have been suffering from distemper, were tracked and shot.
Green is at home with her other lakeland terrier, Chester. For now though her thoughts remain on Rupert, a scruffy tan terrier Green could cradle in her arms.
“He was just the coolest little dog anyone could ever want to have,” she said.
Any cougar sightings can be reported to the Conservation Officer Service at 1-877-952-7277.
cclancy@timescolonist.com
Read more: http://www.timescolonist.com/life/dies+after+violent+cougar+attack+Vancouver+Island/6782141/story.html#ixzz1yLAmhMb6
Posts
