A group of British Columbia fishermen received quite a surprise recently when they encountered a cougar swimming at high speeds between Nootka and Vancouver islands.
Veteran guide Graham Nielsen told the Times Colonist he has seen swimming bears and wolves, but never a cougar. He added—and the video reveals—that the cougar seemed intent on climbing onto his 24-foot boat, which held three passengers and their impressive haul of halibut and salmon.
"One fellow saw something near the shore," Nielsen said. "He said, ‘Hey, it’s an otter. Weird. It looks like it’s paddling.’ So I say, ‘Otters don’t paddle.’ We got a bit closer and saw it was a cougar—not full grown, but big. Probably 10 feet, nose to tail."
"It was moving real fast, too. It swam nearly halfway across—about a quarter mile. I didn’t know they could swim like that. I have no doubt it would have tried to climb onto the motor pod, given an opportunity."
Danielle Thompson of Parks Canada said that while it's rare to see cougars swimming—they're nocturnal predators and tend to avoid humans—they're prolific water travelers.
"They'll commonly swim between islands in search of prey," she said. "Their preferred prey is deer, which also swim well."
This might be useful information for anyone who encounters a cougar and has to choose between standing their ground (preferred) and trying to escape by swimming.
Said Thompson: "I've seen deer try do this and it didn't go well."
--See this post and more from Pete Thomas on GrindTv.com
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