Conservation officers are continuing to field and investigate cougar reports, but they emphasize that while numbers are high this year, many of the sightings can't be confirmed.
"With the amount of cougar sightings we've had in the community -especially Roberts Creek and Gibsons - in the past three months, you get some hysteria and so now everything gets attributed to a cougar," Sunshine Coast conservation officer Murray Smith said.
With 59 cougar reports since April 1, including a spike of 33 in August and six to date in September, it's been a notable year for cougars, he said.
"There's no doubt there are cougar in our communities," he said. "Right now we've got more than I've had in the five years I've been here. But the other thing is, every situation isn't going to be a cougar."
Labour Day weekend, for example, two cougar reports came in, but neither could be substantiated.
The first came in from the King Road and Fitchett Road area in Upper Gibsons, he said. A resident said they'd heard what sounded like a dog being attacked in a yard bordering on forest.
"There were [reportedly] some mournful noises coming from a dog that appeared to be in great distress," he said.
But while Sunshine Coast RCMP went to the scene that night, they were unable to locate either the reported dog or any trace of a cougar. The following morning, conservation officer Dean Miller went to the scene. But he, too, found no trace of a cougar.
"There was no animal remains, there was no blood, there was no indication of a struggle when the ground gets torn up," Smith said.
And while there could have been a bona fide cougar there, there's simply no evidence of one.
"It's undetermined as to whether it was a cougar attack," Smith said. "It could have been a coyote, it could have been other animals, it could have been misinterpreted noises."
Similarly, an 11-year-old girl's Labour Day Monday report of a cougar in the bushes at her grandparents' house near Roberts Creek Elementary School is unverified.
"The 11-year-old seemed to know what they were looking at," he said, "but again it's just one of those situations where we've got really nothing to go on - no tracks, no other sightings."
Conservation officers watch for call volume in recurring locations to determine which cougar reports are likely to be the real deal.
"All the cougar calls are pinned on a map so that we know when we've got a cluster of pins that we've got a problem," Smith said. "If it's bona fide we're going to have recurrences."
In the event of a cougar encounter, the Ministry of the Environment advises the following: do not run; pick up children immediately as a child's sudden movement could trigger an attack; face the cougar and make yourself look as big as possible by waving your arms or else sticks and branches; stay calm and talk to the cougar in a confident voice; do not approach the cougar; and leave the cougar an avenue of escape.
