Local man goes eye to eye with couple of Christmas cougars

It’s not uncommon for homeowners in the mountain areas of the Okanagan to run into wildlife.

Deer, moose, coyotes, even cougars, are known to roam the region.

But for one Lake Country resident, what he saw just before Christmas was out of the ordinary.

The motion sensor went off at his Carr’s Landing Road property Friday, alerting him to some movement on his back deck.

“I looked behind me and saw a big tail and I said, ‘wow that looks like a mountain lion,’ Jim told Kelowna10. “I got up from the couch and went in the direction of where the mountain lion was headed, and I stood in front of the next set of doors and there were two [of them].”

His initial reaction was one of astonishment and noted how beautiful and calm they were as they prowled around the snowy deck.

“I expected as soon as they saw me they would run off. But I think it took them a while to notice I was there,” Jim said. “Our windows are a little mirrored, so I yelled out and that got their attention.”

That glass separating Jim from the stunning creatures gave him an amazingly intimate perspective.

“I started to crouch down and we came eye to eye and had a staring contest for 10 to 15 seconds. So that was awesome.”

Jim has lived at his Lake Country home for the last 13 years, and said he was surprised to see not only two big cats together, but during daylight hours.

“I’ve captured them [before] on security cameras, and they tend to be dark, and distant,” he explained. “But here we were interacting, and at one point I crouched down and I was face to face with them, and I think we liked each other for a while there anyways.”

He contacted the conservation officer as a precaution to his neighbours to let them know there are mountain lions in the area. The cats were estimated to be around 18 months old.

And when he showed his neighbours the video, they too were impressed with what came up to his window.

The key message Jim learned from the conservation expert about his fortuitous Christmastime visit is that this is the big cats' natural habitat and there’s lots of prey available. They don’t pose a threat to the surrounding neighbours, but locals should be careful with pets, and avoid feeding the deer that are the intended food target for mountain lions.

“He told us they’re going to be here whether we move them or not,” Jim said. “So, we should learn to live with them and take appropriate precautions.”