THURSDAY
< Sports of all sorts
JUNE 19, 2014
Sam Steele Days sports advancer | Page A8
9 & Dine
The ‘Young Warlord’ speaks > Gwynne Dyer on Tony Blair, Iraq | Page A6
$
45 with cart
1
Like Us
$ 10
TownsmanBulletin
INCLUDES G.S.T.
Follow Us @crantownsman
Proudly serving Cranbrook and area since 1951
Vol. 63, Issue 117
www.dailytownsman.com
Cat kills lead to two cougars being put down
Cougar kittens followed unusual behaviour patterns in Slaterville situation, conservation officers say ARNE PETRYSHEN Townsman Staff
no female around.” He said cougar kittens don’t usually leave the mother until between 16 and 18 months of age. These kittens were too young to be away from the mother. He noted that could have been the reason the cougars were taking part in such odd behaviour. “If the female is still around it’s concerning, because this is what she’d been teaching them. So maybe there’s something wrong there as well,” he said. “But we haven’t received any reports of a female or lone cougar wandering around that area.” Connatty said there’s a misconception that a cougar kills for fun. “If you have multiple animals, and a cougar is targeting one of them in a situation where those animals can’t escape, a cougar has a switch that goes off in its mind,” he said. “Once the cougar takes out the first animal, it can’t just turn that switch off, since things are still moving. It is naturally driven to stop things from moving when it is in that hunt mode.
Over the weekend, conservation officers destroyed two cougars that had been killing cats on the Slaterville side of Cranbrook. On Friday Karen King found two dead cats outside her home on Briar Avenue. She called the conservation officers (COs) who came to look at the cat carcasses. “We confirmed that, yes, cougars were involved with killing domestic cats,” said Jared Connatty, one of the COs who responded to the call. “During that investigation we found that two cougars had been hanging around for a few weeks before we were notified.” The domestic cat killings were close to town, and the COs took the situation very seriously. They deployed tracking hounds at the last known location of the cougar and the scent lead to two juvenile cougar, both around 10 months old. “No mother was present in the area — we didn’t pick up any other scent leaving that site,” Connatty said. “There’s a high likelihood there’s See COUGARS , Page A3
PHOTO COURTESY BRONWYN MACDONALD
Crews from Cranbrook’s Rockies Rowing Club were in action this weekend past at the Vernon Rowing Regatta. See Sports, Page A9, for details. Left to right: Zoe Chore, Reili Savage, Coach Roberta Rodgers, Katie Clark, Danielle Macdonald.
Steely hot summer days
It’s on! Cranbrook’s great summer festival, the 50th edition of Sam Steele Days
SALLY MACDONALD Townsman Staff
This week’s weather may be dreary, but the sun is forecast to break through just in time for Cranbrook’s annual city-wide celebration, Sam Steele Days. And rightly so, as the Key City always pulls out all the stops for the biggest party
FOR THE TOWNSMAN
This Saturday, watch for the Steele’s Scouts Commemorative Militia Cavalry, a band of Albertans who dress as the North West Mounted Police from Inspector Sam Steele’s era. weekend of the year. This year marks the 50th time Sam Steele Days has been celebrated in Cranbrook, and it’s set to be bigger and better than ever. “We are bringing it up to a new level,” said
the Sam Steele Society’s Maureen Frank. The weekend — which starts today, Thursday, June 19, and carries through to Sunday, June 22 — is jampacked with events for all ages.
TH U RSDAYS AFTER 4PM 12 wings for
6
$
99
WINGNIGHT NIGHT
$
“Come out and celebrate together through sports, through games, food, music and art, through all of those things. We want the community to focus on what brings us together. There are very few fi-
4.50
domestic draft beer
nancial barriers because everything is either low cost or no cost,” said Frank. To mark the 50th celebration, there are some special events planned.
See SAM , Page A3
1417 CRANBROOK ST N 250.426.3501 cranbrook.gotorickys.com