WEDNESDAY
S I N C E
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AUGUST 29, 2012 Vol. 117, Issue 167
110
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Kootenay living at its finest Page 2
INCLUDING H.S.T.
PROUDLY SERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF
ROSSLAND, WARFIELD, TRAIL, MONTROSE, FRUITVALE & SALM SALMO
Dog comes to rescue in Sunningdale cougar attack BY TIMOTHY SCHAFER Times Staff
The hair on Angie Prime’s head stood on end when she turned around. The 35-year-old lower Sunningdale resident had just hung up the phone on Saturday evening with her husband, Matt, in her home on Glen Drive when something caught her eye. She saw movement and when she turned an adult cougar was stalking out of the dark reaches of her home and into her living room. It was a cougar looking for an easy meal, and had slipped into the home through an open screen door in the back. Within the span of a heartbeat the cat leapt at Prime and she acted quickly, jumping and bringing up her arms to shield her face and her knee to block the cat’s pounce. The cat raked her claws across Prime’s thigh but her attack was thwarted. Prime’s 11-year-old border collie, Vicious, lived up to her name and jumped off a nearby couch and came to her aid, snapping at the cougar, turning it away from the four-foot-twoinch Prime. The cougar ran out of the house with Vicious in close pursuit, chasing it back into the forested strip running along the alley behind the house. “You are not thinking to run at that moment when you see a cat,” Prime said Tuesday. As Vicious and the cougar disappeared into the woods help began to arrive. Next door neighbours heard her screaming and her neighbour across the street heard and
TIMOTHY SCHAFER PHOTO
Angie Prime and Vicious seek the comfort of their couch after a harrowing encounter with a cougar on Saturday. came running out. Prime felt very lucky the way it ended, with only a couple of puncture marks on her thigh from the cat’s claws—and the needle mark from the resultant tetanus shot. “It’s a chance in a million that (a cat
attack) would ever happen in a home,” she said. “But if it wasn’t for (Vicious) I would have been mauled.” B.C. Conservation operations inspector Aaron Canuel agreed. He said it was an extremely old female, around nine, near
the lifespan extent for a big wild cat and it was emaciated at around 50 pounds, well below the average female cat’s weight of 120 pounds. “It is extremely rare and unusual for a cat to go into somebody’s residence and do that,” he said. “But in saying that, when a cougar is in poor physical condition and it can no longer hunt its regular prey like deer and elk … it reverts to prey that are a lot easier captured.” Like house pets. Prime figured the cat was hanging out in the neighbourhood and her dogs—including two 14-month old puppies—were a draw for it. When conservation officers canvassed the area the next day after the attack people reported seeing the cougar in the neighbourhood for the past several weeks. “Unfortunately, no one called it in,” Canuel said. “That’s one thing we encourage people to do is that if they see a cougar in the neighbourhood consistently to phone us so we can take action.” Operating on a tip from a passerby, officers located the cougar 400 metres from the attack location Monday morning and they surmised that it would come back. They set their hounds on it and they were successful in cornering and eventually destroying the animal, said Canuel. “It has changed its behaviour from attacking regular prey to attacking humans,” he said. Canuel did not rule out the possibility of another attack by a cougar in the neighbourhood since “that whole area holds potential.”
Annual family movie night hits the big screen next week BY BREANNE MASSEY Times Staff
The fifth annual family movie night in Haley Park returns next week. The Kootenay Savings family movie night will feature ‘The Lorax’ on Sept. 7 on a three-storey screen. Since the first movie night in Trail during 2008 the events gained popularity each year, and last year officials recorded roughly 4,000 people attending the fundraiser across all three participating communities – Trail, Kimberley and Nakusp. “For us, the movie nights are a way to help
the food banks stockpile heading into Thanksgiving and Christmas, while also putting on a fun and unique event that caters to families,” said Aron Burke, community relations coordinator for Kootenay Savings. In Trail alone last year, an estimated 2,500 people brought along more than 1,000 pounds of food, as well as $137 in cash donations for the local Salvation Army Food Bank, who will be the beneficiary of all the donations earned again this year. The Helping Hands Food Bank was the bene-
ficiary of the nearly 1,000 attendees in Kimberley last year, collecting food valued $2,700, along with more than $300 in cash donations. The Nakusp movie night had roughly 450 people in attendance and the Nakusp Food Bank was the recipient of nearly 500 pounds of food. “It’s always amazing to see how generous people are, and how excited all the kids are to see a movie outside on the huge movie screen,” said Burke. There will be a concession and washroom facilities at all three parks, and
SUBMITTED PHOTO
The fifth annual Kootenay Savings family movie night will feature “The Lorax,” on Sept. 7 at Haley Park. Last year’s event in Trail (pictured above) attracted approximately 2,500 people. the movie will hit the big screen at dusk (7:30 p.m. in Trail).
For more information visit www.kscu.com or www.facebook.com/
KootenaySavings, or call Burke directly at 250-3682683.
Contact the Times: Phone: 250-368-8551 Fax: 250-368-8550 Newsroom: 250-364-1242
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