Moose Jaw police kill cougar after tracking it with drone

Article content

The Moose Jaw Police Service says officers found and killed a cougar Monday night, after two confirmed sightings of the feline in the city earlier in the day.

In a media release Tuesday morning, the police service said its members received another report of the big cat in the city’s northwest area, where it was first originally spotted early Monday morning on a doorbell security camera.

Officers used a drone to first find the cougar, shortly before midnight.

Citing public safety concerns and using advice from Saskatchewan conservation officers, police chose to euthanize the cougar.

They did that successfully, the media release said.

Speaking with the Leader-Post on Monday, the southwest region manager for the conservation officers service, Bruce Reid, said it’s the first report of a cougar in an urban setting in the southwest in approximately 18 years.

His region covers the area from the Alberta border up to Regina.

eradford@postmedia.com

*Evan Radford is the Leader-Post’s reporter under the Local Journalism Initiative